2018 is here, and even though it keeps snowing in Minnesota, it still is spring, and you could be…read morecleaning out your closets. Goodwill is close to the house, and they take a wide variety of goods and with the drive-through drop off it's easy to minimalize your lifestyle. If you have any skeletons in your closets, leave those at home. The Art of Swedish Death Cleaning and Goodbye Things got me jumpstarted to donate, recycle and reuse for 2018. We live in a small house (yay, less cleaning) and I'm working on making a combination home office and guest sleeping space. Moving things on and not having excesses is a great way to accomplish that goal. I like how simple dropping things off at this Goodwill is. The young man who accepted our donations was helpful, fast and courteous. In the vehicle were an odd mix of furniture, household goods, stuffed animals and knick-knacks and now all of them are on their way to make someone else's day. Less really is more.

Called twice to give heads up that i had a 17' U-Haul with lots of furniture. Both calls the reps…read moresaid that was "ok" or "i will let management know". i arrived and the older, female managers appeared. I yelled twice from the truck (on opposite side of where they were standing in the bay) to confirm if i was parked ok. they never reply until 4th attempt with "i don't care". Got out of the truck and they proceeded to say that "we cannot help unload". what??? My point to them was it sure would've been nice to let me know when i called twice before. One said "i would've told you". pfffft....does lots of good now. i retort, "your staff didn't tell me". obviously the management is responsible for staff performance/training. all they are concerned about was that i not talk so loudly. mind you i was not yelling or berating but upset yes. that i had a 17' foot U-Haul stuffed to the gills with furniture weighting between 20 lbs and 250 lbs. So yes i did it but that is not the point. they should've let me know. they kept saying "it is b/c of covid". i pushed them on this and then they changed their answer to "it is policy". sheesh...they have a Goodwill store full of people, they both were not wearing masks mind you, and they are now all of a sudden afraid of covid? of course they do not say "thanks' for the donation. greedy, unprofessional, and worst - unreliable. never again will i donate to them. if i had known they were representing Goodwill, would've at least taken to another store location. Worst managers, incompetent.

I wanted to love this place, but it really was more of a 'junk' store with a sprinkling of antiques…read morethan it was a 'thrift' store. I certainly don't think itd be a place you could visit weekly for new finds. However, if you like to just look at shit (like I do) then it was pretty fun and there are likely some fun deals to be had. I have a feeling you could bargain with the owners a bit too if you found something you couldn't live without.

Very cute and clean thrift store with lots things anyone can enjoy, very friendly staff, was…read moregreeted with a warm welcome with a smile. Great prices.

Awesome place. My son does a week of art class in the summer and he loves it. Great prices and…read morefriendly staff. Oh and the cutest doggy!

We love Rum River Art Center! My girls have been attending classes off and on for several years…read more The classes are informative, fun and reasonably priced. As someone with a background in early childhood education I am a bit picky and critical. I have high standards of educational programs and how to relate to children. This program not only meets but exceeds my expectations for quality. The girls have learned a lot and Larry is wonderful, patient, kind and knowledgeable. My girls always look forward to returning. I would highly recommend this to any family interested in art education.

It's a resale store that gets a fair mix of closeouts from larger brand name stores. We like to…read morecome here to hunt for seasonal decorations and toys. You never know what you are going to find, so this type of place can be addictive if you like the thrill of hunting products at thrift stores.

Awesome people. Great selection. Doing good work there. Where there's a will there's a way.read more

This is an adorable gift shop that you can easily spend hours in without ever seeing all there is…read moreto offer! From handmade birdhouses to gourmet foods to throwback candy to inspirational books, this place has something for everyone! Be sure to check out their Facebook page and be informed of upcoming sales and events! They have a special Wednesday night girls night that includes a discount on all purchases. My anti-shopping husband and I went on a Sunday afternoon and I had to drag HIM out of the store! He found so many things that he wanted that he had to start a pile at the register so he didn't have to carry everything while he continued to shop! Our treasures included a pizza oven cook book, a shepherd's hook, a birdhouse, some peach bbq sauce, a handmade pen, a large picture/wall hanging, and a few caramels. We love it all and can't wait to go back! Pro tip....be sure to use the restroom so you can read about the history of this beautiful space. Sounds weird, I know, but what a lovely story abut a well-loved place! This is the PERFECT place to go if you are wanting to buy a unique and thoughtful gift for someone but have no idea what to get. Your gift will be the best one your receiver had gotten! The prices are fair. Not too high but not a discount store either. It is still a boutique. Oh...and the salespeople are just awesome! So sweet and make you feel like you are their closest friends. They wrap your goodies under with care and even offered to help carry things to our car. The whole experience was a 10/10!!!

The Round Bar is a long standing boutique in the North Suburbs. It's got great land history it…read moreprides itself in. I'm not all that knowledgeable on it but I'm sure they'd tell you about the "farm" it sits on. It's in a great location off of Bunker, near Round Lake. Parking is behind the building. Now you may think you are parking in a memory care apartment complex because you are. That's a part of this original Farmstead property. They take pride in MN. You'll find anything made by a local MN artisan here. There's a section devoted to just the MN State Fair. It may be stuffed to the brim with things, but it is organized well. Bath, body, kitchen, cabin, baby, faith, sports, fashion, treats. I usually want it all. And it's a great place to find a birthday or thank you gift. They offer gift cards and have offered basic gift-wrapping in the past (ribbon tied on the bag). They also host artisan markets to showcase some vendors. They gave me a postcard for an upcoming event, which includes food trucks. Sis and I stopped in on our way to the Downtown Anoka shops. But I found everything for my bday peeps here. No need to fight for off-street parking or the sidewalk sales crowd. Thank goodness!

Super easy to donate food. They have a dedicated door for food donations. Staff are welcoming and…read morefriendly. They offer lots of services beyond food such as clothing, housing help, etc.

From the owner: CROSS Services provides emergency and support services--food, clothing, housing assistance, and…read moremore--to people experiencing financial hardship. More than simply addressing immediate crises, CROSS is committed to working closely with families as they move toward long-term stability. CROSS serves several communities in northwestern Hennepin County, and works collaboratively with other organizations to provide wrap-around support for families in need. Hundreds of volunteers give thousands of hours to make it possible for CROSS to serve more than 14,000 individuals annually. An established non-profit with a forty-four year history of service in the community, CROSS Services responsibly stewards donations to maximize impact.

Five years ago we sold our large home in the suburbs where we had raised our two daughters. We…read moremoved to a lovely historic house with apartments by the river. A year later my husband left to homestead his mother's inherited condo. Finding myself alone and unwilling to go to bars, I walked over and joined a women's and a senior's group at a Salvation Army. It was the BEST decision I could have made! Years ago I tutored junior high kids in East Harlem, taught camping hiking skills to inner city fresh air camp kids, was hired on an Antioch work study semester to be the first Spanish interpreter at age 19 at Jacobi ( welfare) municipal hospital in the Bronx, became the first college student hired by the Job Corps working in downtown LA teaching Chicanas how to read, then assisted the Exec Director Robert Coard at Boston's largest Community Action $20 million program ABCD right out of college. My last job in the public sector was as an EEO Officer for CETA under the Dept of Labor for 10 counties in Massachusetts. I spent four wonderful years within the Salvation Army, participating in their programs, accepting some of their wonderful donated food from Lunds and Byerlys and observing TWO citadels' ( other in downtown St Paul on West 7th) staff and participant children, families. SO many social service programs allow their staff to help themselves FIRST to all donations given to the program. This is WIDESPREAD. Not here at Salvation Army. This is a church that does not aggressively proselytize to participants. Seniors, women's men's and children's programs are created in many of these Citadels. I participated in a wonderful women's program that took short trips to museums and others places of interest. Belonging to a welcoming community is very important today for everyone. They also run an official food shelf only for qualified residents in their specific assigned region of care. These food banks ( located inside each Salvation Army " citadel") help those who qualify with utility bills just before disconnect, sometimes a little for rent, finding housing, sometimes clothing/ warm jackets blankets, hats mittens gloves. Many Citadels have after school programs and day care at prices according to what people can afford. They have in EVERY major city the VERY BEST program in the country for SUCCESSFULLY helping folk quit drugs. I know, for in Virginia I would bring many inner city and other young people to their FULL year live/ work in programs. The main source of funding is from Bell Ringing at Christmas. Recently in the last few years donations from bell ringing have dropped and many citadels have had to lay off staff, cut services. In my many years of social service, I have never found such a self sacrificing staff run truly meaningful and EFFECTIVE community wide programs. THIS Citadel has the Pollancos who recently relocated here from years in SUPER tough Chicago's South side! They are loving joyous and rare people.

I am so thankful I found Lakeside. Josh, my designer, worked so hard on the design for my kitchen…read moreand always promptly answered any question I had... which were many! I felt involved in every step of the process. Every person I spoke with from Lakeside was always so helpful and kind. I am super pleased with my new kitchen and it's amazing quality!

We worked chose Lakeside for our first floor remodel (kitchen cabinets, island, and bathroom…read morevanity) after getting a few quotes from others. We worked as our own contractor, so we were a little apprehensive about how this process would go. Lakeside's pricing was competitive and we worked with the designer, Josh. He was amazing-patient, creative, and helped us stay within our desired price point. He also was great at helping us obtain what we wanted, but in ways that would work practically. As you can see, the attention to detail and craftsmanship is incomparable. From designing to install, this process was so smooth, we could hardly believe it. Thanks so much to all at Lakeside, you made our dream kitchen come true!

On the day of the appointment, they took out a treadmill I wanted to rid, but broke holes into the…read moredoors and chipped, scratched, and broke off the trim on three separate doors on the way out. They gave a small discount because of the chipped trim, but nothing to cover the door's holes and the knocked off trim. The estimate was overpriced and there are hidden fees along with the price that isn't told to you until the day of, they rushed the job so I couldn't do anything, not even specify certain things I wanted removed. On top of that they did not let me check if the truck was actually filled to what they said, and they did not apply any coupons that I wanted to use (there was a holiday special still going on) on the invoice. I talked with customer service about anything they could do but the owner refused and stopped replying to me. I suspect they think I was lying about the damages. It has been almost 2 months since and they only sent the donation receipt yesterday because I called them again after not replying to any of my emails. They did not even donate anything except a light dresser to goodwill out of all the things.

I have used Junkluggers several times in the last few years, both before and after moving. They are…read moreabsolute life-savers. Once again, with our most recent move, we had leftover junk/stuff that we couldn't take with us. They cleared out the garage and even took two lawnmowers. This time it wasn't even a full truck. The workers have always been courteous, quick, and efficient, especially during a previous move when they had to haul away one and three-quarter truckloads. The best thing is, they take anything and everything. I highly recommend Junkluggers to anyone who needs to dispose of excess stuff of any variety. It was well worth the price to take advantage of their service.