Reduce, re-use, RESALE! Swing by this eclectic, emporium in the Edgewater neighborhood to find anything you need to furnish and maintain your residence. It may just be an item used in the many television programs filmed in our fair city.
This place takes a different approach to selling used goods. I prefer having tags on goods, this place doesnt do that. They post signs that state price on walls. So rather than look thru clothes,glassware,books movies etc. for what interests you, you first must look around area for sign of prices. I guess tv series are $2 per disc, which could get expensive since most seasons have 4 or more discs. Also you have to look up how many disc are in each box. Thats a pain!!! Oh,and you have to spend $10 to use a card. You probably will miss that sign at door that states that. 😞Ill stick to village outlet or salvation army.
Great selection. Furniture, clothing and more! Overall great community thrift shop with fair pricing. If you have a bag with you be prepared to leave it behind the counter.
Great prices, great staff, great pick up donation services (right from your home), great drop off options for purchases, just generally great store. Love this and love all the employees.Green Element is one of those places where you walk in the front door and youre transformed into a feeling of warmth and joy. It reminds me of that feeling when wed walk into Toys R Us as kids and the whole world went away for that hour or two.I dont suggest bringing kids or wheelchairs in here. They wont deny people from entering, obviously, but the isles may be a little narrow.I highly suggest this store! My number 1 favorite thrift shop in the city.
Price to value ratio can be all over the place; Ive scored insane deals but Ive also seen stuff that could be gotten new at a dept. store for the same price. But what it lacks in value it makes up in charm, ambience, & selection.
I absolutely love this store and the customer service of the staff members and the owner, Bill. I was recommended to this store by my AirBnB host since I was visiting from KC. This thrift shop is a small business I support! The staff is diverse in both age, gender, race, and ethnicity. I appreciated seeing representation from all backgrounds. The quality of the items was name-brand and rarely did I find an item with any major imperfections. I found a cart-full of dresses, sweaters, work attire, etc. that I was satisfied with purchasing. The owner, Bill was friendly and hilarious. We were able to talk and get to know each other. I told him that I would be a long-term customer as I often visit my family who live in Chicago. If you are in the Uptown area, I highly recommend this establishment!!! The prices are great and the items are high-quality.
Complete broken junk. Not a non for profit shop. Left coz I had my coffee with me, for health reasons, and the under cover narc hired by the store reported me.
Dont bother. Bloke at the front is a bit of a pompous a$s, rude. Tried to make me leave my handbag at the register as if I wanted to steal rubbish in his store. The place they keep the bags is less than 6 feet from the front door, so easy to steal if you know where to look. Im not taking the chance of someone walking off with my bag or stealing my seizure meds - thanks. Meanwhile I can see plenty of women walking around with their bags but its whatever. Nothings even labeled and Im sure the prices go up depending on what youre wearing or if you showered. This would be a great location for a true community thrift store, what a missed opportunity.
I’ve spent good time and money here.EVERY interaction I have with the owner he is extremely rude.I don’t haggle. I ask things like ‘how much for this?’He should label everything so there’s no need to talk to him period.The other staff are nice but they mostly defer to him.The stuff can be really good. A lot of the furniture (and decor) is WAYYY over priced.Try other thrifts (like brown elephant) or home goods.
They are wildly rude in here. The furniture is also incredibly overpriced considering the condition most of the junk is in. Highly recommend checking out Brown Elephant down the street in Andersonville for better service, merchandise and deals!
The Green Element is a great resale shop. It is jam-packed with almost everything you could imagine. So you could get lost as you explore. It seemed to be well organized and the clothing was clean. In fact, as a general note, everything was clean ...no thrift store smell and my allergies did not kick in! Pricing overall seemed fair although a few furniture items seemed to have pretty high prices. But i could be wrong as i am not an expert and they may have been a relative bargain. Bottom line i always enjoy my visits here and will return
Yesterday was our first visit to this intriguing resale store. I always feel excited anticipation going to a resale or thrift store for the first time. Sometimes I am amazed and other times I am dismayed. This store definitely falls into the former category with an abundance of stuff. I parked right behind a truck unloading more goodies. I love digging through thrift stores with vast and eclectic displays of merchandise, and this one delivers that in spades! I glanced at the shoes, which looked pretty long in the tooth and low in the chic factor - no idea what they cost. A bin of $1.00 t-shirts didnt yield any treasures, but sure was fun to rifle through.I only have one complaint - so many things are not priced and you have to bring them up to the counter to get a price. This can result in unfair practices based on assumptions made about a buyer. I found a really cool vintage treasure and thought the quoted price was quite fair. The owner said the piece must have just come in ... glad he sold it to me. A woman looking through a box of jewelry was not as lucky. He told her none of it was for sale and when she continued to look, he had to take it away from her. It likely also just walked in the door, but should have been taken off the floor to be priced.
Good collection. But prices are not displayed on all items. A little bit congested in the arrangement.
Great place to donate and thrift shop, they do good work here.
Always acquiring interesting items for sale such as furniture, antiques, electronics, books, cds, movies, clothes, houseware and more. The items offered can change every day so multiple visits are always different. The prices are very reasonable so you go cant go wrong. It also a great place to donate items you no longer need. Theyre open till 7pm every day.
I live close to this place. Incredible amount of merchandise but they are orderly and well curated. Place is clean and no musty odor. The price is reasonable. The staff are helpful and will answer questions that you may have the best way they can. I love coming here whenever I can.5 stars from me.
This is a great local shop. They have a great selection of clothes, book, and some nice furniture. Also the profits go to a charity.
Amazing and affordable stuff to be found. You never know what youll see every day
This place has some really fun items throughout, but so many of their prices are ridiculous. It feels like they arent sure if they went to be an antique store or a resale shop sought out by those trying to save money and re-use. Otherwise, the staff has been kind on my visits.
We have used them once back in March, I am only writing now as they remind us of our final bill, despite of the poor service they have provided without the concern of exposure to children on what they have done. I called them to specifically ask for the deep disinfecting explaining we have children and have requested after hours. And yet it took them 2 nights to finish, leaving used glove on the staff desk and used brillo pads and claiming they were not informed that there we are open even though that was part of my explanation to them. We have had to disinfect the following day before the children came back. To them, their service was completed, to us, it had only risk our children to exposure during the time of a surge.
Ive lived in the neighborhood for a little over a year and I looooove Green Element. I always go when Im in need of furniture. This year I have bought a nice couch and dresser from them and both are great quality for the price I paid. They also offer delivery for a fee. Always nice people, and a good selection of furniture.
Great place. Deals galore.
More than a little bit of everything under the sun.
Do not go here for electronic devices. 50$ for a vintage record player and a set of computer speakers, neither of which ended up working. I totally got scammed.
I love coming here. I found a Tumi shoulder bag for $4. In PERFECT condition! Didnt have much time to look around, but am totally happy with my purchase today. The staff is always so friendly to me too. Ill always keep going back.
Theres always a great find when I stop in. Very friendly staff and well organized. Its one of my favorite places to browse around.
This place is so much fun! Street parking is pretty easy around there. Could get lost inside if you are not careful.
I love coming in here when I have some free time! I always find something that I love, and the prices are amazing. Some of the staff could be friendlier, but their green message is inspiring and they really hold their business to it.
Best resale shop ever. Very good prices
I wish they can lower the price especially for the furnitures and please put some price tag so that we dont have to ask every time we like something, rather than that this is good place to look for a treasure.
They rarely have their items priced when you ask about the price the man with the glasses behind the counter will price it the same price as a brand new item depending on how he feels
The staff here can be very rude. Prices are rarely listed and you have to ask about every item individually from the manager because no one else knows. Prices seem weirdly high for a thrift store, especially for furniture and other home items. Also a covid note: the one time I went, none of the staff were wearing masks and I left.
Great thrift shop with a great owner. They are so nice there, the pricing is always either good or great, and they have a great variety. They have a lot of everything and it is a fun place to walk through. They have a ton of books and plays (always $1 paperback and $2 hardback) and also have good deals of furniture. The only downside is that sometimes they have so much stuff, it can be hard to sort through/see it all, but it looks like they are reorganizing to try to fix that.
It was so cool inside, my friends and I went to go thrift shopping and it was such a fun experience.
So much stuff across every product category imaginable that you can get overwhelmed. That said, I love spending an hour or more going through everything I can. Never know what kitch or keeper you might find!
I recently bought a pair of Columbia rain boots for $6. $3 earrings. As is on electrical items. Sometimes you.might find good quality pots and pans. Great for Loyola students because its practically in their campus. Oh, i also scored a Coleman camp chair. It was new. $ 7.
Highly recommend this place! I am so happy this shop is close to my new apartment. A very cute store, frequently has different kinds of sales (i.e. half off seasonal clothing, half off lamps, etc), and the staff was helpful and polite. Everything seemed reasonably priced. I bought a large (probably 5x8) wool rug for $75, another medium-sized wool rug for $20, and a nice armchair for my living room for $50. I did not touch any of the clothing section, but there was lots of clothes, books, furniture, home decor, etc.
Nice experience!
Just moved here in Feb and wish I had found this place earlier!!! Im completely revamping my wardrobe and donating my stuff here. Its a mom n pops store, so Id love to help out that way. As far as clothes go, its cheap and they have a HUGE selection but you have to dig (and its fun- at least for me). They also have a gigantic room with furniture and decor which I didnt even have time to check out. Cant wait to go back!
I really dig this place. It is the old-fashioned thrift shop, with treasures to be found among the junk, but there is a real system to the ordering of the place, which assists me in my searching. Some places are likewise cool as GER, but their stuff is merely stacked in heaps and not ordered at all--takes too much time to root through the stuff you arent interested in.
Update: having gone again with someone who has a lot more patience, I found the owners are quite nice. Pricier than thrift should be, but not insane. Still no price signs, which is frustrating.Original review: I found some nice stuff, but absolutely nothing is signed or priced except the furniture. I gave up trying--I dont have the patience to go up to the counter and ask for a price every time I find something.
I love this place. Nice staff, fair prices and an interesting inventory of used stuff from furniture to silverware
Great place to find whatever you need at a deep discount to new. Employees are always friendly and helpful.
Let me just say that this is a very good resale shop, just not what I was looking for. They have an excellent furniture section, and if you are looking to donate or buy some classy furniture while being good to the earth, this is the place for you. I wasnt looking for furniture, I was hoping to find some clothes. The mens and womens clothes are all mixed together, and it is a very small selection. There wasnt anything in my size (it was mostly womens size 8 and up). Same for the mens stuff - if youre looking for anything in a mens medium or small, they probably wont have it. Also, I think some of their clothing items are a little overpriced given the quality (a jersey knit top with a lot of pills on the fabric was still marked at $8). So I would say, excellent A++ furniture selection, B- to C+ clothing selection.
Either grossly overpriced or fair, I don’t see deals in there in which I am overly excited about. The workers are a bit rude (pretty bad customer service) and can always be heard yelling at each other or others every time I go in. Everything is poorly labeled. It’s a mess.
Nice!
Great resale shop with a huge selection of items. Their always changing inventory is great to see. You never know what jems you may uncover here. If you enjoy searching and have an open mind this is the resale shop for you.
Brian and staff all excellent. Huge selection of anything you might need. Delivery available. Highly recommend. Thanks Brian!
LOADED w trash AND treasures. Furniture selection is top notch and rotates often. Good selection of clothing and household stuff. Staff is fun and eclectic
Best place, more expensive than Salvation army, but more consistent quality so thats the trade off price wise. They always a huge selection of t-shirts in a $1 dollar bin too. Main point everything is quality and you wont waste your time looking through junk, and staff is so great. You can borrow their dolly for small furniture too!
It is very easy to get lost in here; there are so many things to look at. I love coming here, when I want to clear my head or buy little things that i need. Green Element has a good number of books, clothing, furniture, vintage things, etc. You would be amazed, but you can also find post cards! Great local thrift store, for us that live in Edgewater neighborhood.
Green Element Resale does have a wide variety of items although many items (even large furniture pieces) are not priced. Repeatedly having to inquire as to the price of an item can be tedious. Likewise service is a mixed bag. Sometimes great - sometimes awful. Last time I went in I saw that the books (which had all been together in one section previously) were now scattered throughout the store. When I commented that it made finding a book more difficult, the male at the counter responded that they were financially strapped and they had to focus on things other than books because my book purchase wasnt going help keep Green Element in business. I guess if you dont buy enough its ok to be rude to you.
Bill the owner is a gentle And wonderful man.Stock is updated weekly.All the staff are so friendly and nice.Jesse, one of the workers there is one of the most nicest guys you will meet! So much banter!
Easily the most organized thrift store Ive ever been in. Good prices, and we found some cool stuff.
Green Element is a cool little secondhand shop with much more reasonable prices than the nearby antique stores. From clothing to books to dinnerware to furniture, theres plenty to be found here. Things are laid out in a kind of disorganized format, but it makes a the good finds all that more rewarding.
No matter what you are looking for you will always find something you want.
Wonderful store! Bought my boyfriend a jacket for $10 and myself a jacket for $15. Honestly a steal if you ask me.
Great book section and reasonably priced furniture.
Great shop! A must visit for furniture and cool random vintage items.
Worth checking out for your home essentials, you can get a lot of stuff for cheap
Quite possibly my fav resale in greater Chicago, this place doesnt even bat an eyelash to give a nice price. And its ALL for sale! Quite comparable to what the Brown Elephant *was*. Dont be fooled tho, just because theres no prices on the goods on the sales floor doesnt mean they arent sold. Almost everything is taken to the front register to be classified & priced at the time of SALE. It takes a couple of times to adjust to this method but Im SURE youll like it when you see your receipt!
Great place! You find a lot of stuff you just dont need to buy new.
The Best Northside Chi-town to shop !!!! Come On By and its shop together
I love the coziness & family feel. it feels less like thrifting & more like digging thru my grandparents attack....so much stuff!! i
Great place to shop. Never know what youll get. Matt is awesome and the old guy is great.
Friendly helpful staff. I have found SEVERAL items here and I didnt have to look to hard.
They have a lot of interesting items. My complaint is that items do not have prices on them and it is a bit disorganized.
The small selection of mens clothing is thrown all together, unlike other resale shops that separate the clothes by sizes. The rest of the items in the store such as furniture and housewares were of cheap quality or constuction. I wont be back, Im sticking to the Goodwill stores.
Big selection of useful stuff and got a wonderful book
Large selection of stuff. Dishes, furniture, clothes, books, antiques. The sticker price on the furniture seems a little high so dont forget to haggle. You also cant bring a book bag/tote or drinks into shop, they make you check it at the door.
Unprofessional, dont deal with them unless you are there in person (despite the fact that they advertise on NextDoor - ignore that! They DO NOT actually deliver unless youre in the store to approve), even then maybe make a better choice.
Love the store but the store owner Brian is such a pretentious jerk I refuse to shop there. Hes so egotistical and holier-than-though in his attitude I cant support an otherwise good store.If only hed just keep his mouth shut! >_
This place is so much fun and they sell quality used items!
This non-profit houses amazing finds; as a resaler, they have the ability to price how they like — stock up on books and clothing thats a fraction of their original price points!
Great resale shop..nice selection and fair prices...
Huge and well organized. The prices are always fair, with a quick turnover in the higher quality merchandise.
Great, lots of items to buy
Electic r resal, great service, good prices
One could spend hours rummaging through the various treasures here. Its hard to leave empty handed as this place seems to have something for everyone.
Gritty but a gem if you love the thrill of thrifting!
Literally the best thrift store I have been to in Chicago. The furniture is amazing, antique-quality but sold at garage sale prices—its every thrifters dream.Even the book section of the store is well stocked and diverse in selection. Normally, in thrift stores, I find 1-3 decent overpriced hardbacks, but here, I easily spend 2+ hours looking through the shelves.I have heard complaints of there being no dressing room; yes, there is a dressing room. Its by the books. Theres a very large sign there. (Ask before you whine, geez—a bunch of Ughmericans on here.)I have heard complaints of there not being price tags on things. Yall, its a fixed price system. AKA 1 sign should suffice: If its long sleeves, it costs $5. If its short sleeves, its so much. If its a coat, its so much. The same across all garment types. Not too hard to figure out. (i.e. think about it: This way, they dont have to tag every single piece of clothing in a store; they can just say If its this, it costs this. Pretty simple to figure out.)I love this place. Such a diverse selection—from sports gear, utensils, appliances, books, clothing, furniture, etc. The people are great and the impact to the community profound. We need more thrift stores like this in Chicago!
If you are looking for clothes, shoes, vhs tapes, or books, this is the place! Kind of small layout in the front of the store. The clothes racks were very close together. But, it was interesting to look around. They also have a few glass pieces, random knick nacks, and furniture in the back.
The one guy running the shop has a crappy attitude towards everyone. No prices on anything. Rude,high staff turnover rate,store is always empty of customers. They price gouge you.the items are lousy quality.
Great store, kind people who are always willing to help you and a good selection of stuff to choose from.
Bill is so cool.he runs the place.lots of books and electronics.not. much clothing.
I ALWAYS find a treasure and/or useful item here. ALWAYS lol
A lot of items but not marked with prices and I ended up paying 3 times more than what I was expecting.
Pretty. Awesome. Space is massive and I bet u could find one ofvjust everything u coukd possibly want in a thrift door.
Lots of odds and ends, great place to haggle.
Huge selection, friendly staff, great prices.
You can always find a treasure here.
I like finding hidden treasures another had parted ways with and giving them an extended use.
The best thrift store in the city !
Always find something useful
Large thrift store with tons of clothes in the front, and furniture and appliances in the back. Plus more miscellaneous items like watches, books, etc.
So much fun stuff there