We loved this place! Favorite find us a little dresser that we turned into a coffee bar.

Be nice to the employees and they will be kind in return and will be willing to negotiate prices. Give yourself time to explore.

Great, real, thrift shop. They have something for everyone, every room and interest. Clothing, furniture, furnishings, sporting goods, books, tools, audio/video, seasonal, and oddities. The stock is continually refreshed so I rarely see the same thing twice. I think the prices are perfect - like I'm getting a really good deal but not egregious. The staff are really friendly and go out of their way to be helpful. read more

This review is about Green Element's pickup service. They were very thorough to make sure the furniture was in great condition. Arranged everything via text, and then picked up 3 very large pieces IN THE RAIN. I can't thank you enough!. read more

It's very poorly organized and most of the stuff doesn't have prices. I love thrifting but this place just didn't impress me. Although they also sell stuff you wouldn't find elsewhere, like kids art projects and binders still containing someone's Shakespeare essay from 1995. So it's good if you're looking for oddities or just want to kill time. read more

I completely agree with the comments on the random pricing. I feel like they look at you and decide what you can afford. Bill thinks he's running an antiques store and prices furniture and other items (that they've received FOR FREE) like they're antiques instead of passing along savings like other mission-based resale shops (like the comment about "GREEDY ELEMENTS RESALE). Its kind of shady - Is this a 501(c)3? I've asked twice what cause the nonprofit supports and have been brushed off both times. Why is their website a .com instead of a .org? Has anyone received a tax form for donations? read more

I can't say enough good things about this place. It is so organized, clean, and has so many unique things other resale shops don't have. It has an entire book section that is organized like a book store, tons of furniture, tons of clothes etc. They also have really fun knick knacks. I moved into the area recently and bought an amazing kitchen table and chairs and they lent my husband and I a dolly to get it home. Everyone that worked there were so nice and helpful to the point where looking at the other reviews of the people in the store make me think that they don't understand how thrift stores work. They have fair prices for quality stuff. I love going to thrift stores so I am so happy that this one is within walking distance of my new place! read more

We had items to donate which were refused by 1 non-profit and a second only because it had already been refused. We didn't feel the items were worthless, but were honest with Green Element. They quoted us a price to take everything with the understanding that they would have to discard much of it. They COULD have taken advantage of us and did not. They charged us a nominal fee and said they could definitely use most of the furniture. We were thrilled especially because they vindicated our opinion that this wasn't just 'stuff,' but had value. We will definitely use them when we have to downsize again. We also look forward (we're out of town) to visiting their store. There's one item in particular that we couldn't take at the time and we're interested in buying it back. My guess is that they'll be very fair with us on that as well. It's too bad we can't give them 6 stars. read more

This store is amazing. I could spend hours there. Found just what I was looking for to help my son with his dorm room extra furnishings at a very reasonable price. Employees are friendly and helpful. I will be back and will send others. read more

I recently purchased a computer keyboard at the Green Element. I took it home and cleaned it up, plugged it into a computer and none of the keys worked. I brought it back to the Element and requested a full or partial refund for the item, i was told that when you make a purchase there that it's like Pot-Luck, so i asked if they tested the things they sell there before they sold them to the consumer, and they said no......WHAT A RIP-OFF!!! read more

I love resale shops. Green Element is my favorite and I live 45 minutes away. The resale shops in my neighborhood are over-priced and have many items of questionable value. Going to Green Element is always an adventure because you never know what you will find. They have such a high turnover. My favorite is vintage clothing. I have purchased designer jackets here that have hardly been worn. I also purchased a beauty of a bookcase that is real wood ( better than IKEA). The staff has always been friendly and helpful. It has a family feel to it. And I really love their commitment to the environment :) read more

I am very disappointed with my experience here earlier today. After doing some much needed grocery shopping, my boyfriend and I decided to stop in here to see if there was anything we liked. We had been in a few times before and had always had good experiences. We had wandered around the store for over 15 minutes with our big bags of groceries, and we had even seen two employees there who acknowledged us. When I walked over to the shoe aisle, I left my BLACK boyfriend waiting for me in the main aisle. As he walked over to talk to me an employee came by and nervously asked him if he was shopping???? Why else would we be in there? When he replied yes, the employee asked him to check his bag. Overhearing all of this, and carrying a bag of my own, we both walked over to the front desk to follow the store policy and check our bags. When we walked up we placed our bags on the counter, the employee looked confused and said to me, oh you don't need to check your bag, its just a purse. Mind you my bag was very obviously a cloth shopping bag full of the same groceries my boyfriend had in his bag AND I had an actual purse slung visually over my shoulder. Sensing there was some prejudice here I responded that this is my purse and this is my bag full of groceries, and since the policy is to check your bags I was bringing mine to be checked with my boyfriends, he still seemed confused, and I realized he didn't even think my boyfriend and I were together, so I told him so, and then I asked him to check our bags together. At the time I was holding an adorable little sailor lamp that I wanted to use in our apartment for my redecoration, I am building an entire room to commemorate my BLACK boyfriends 8 YEARS IN THE NAVY, and his numerous medals and achievements. It would have been perfect. He then asked if we wanted to get the lamp, we said yes but that we were still shopping. What? do you not remember asking us to come up to check our bags? Or were you just so ready for us to check out and get our biracial asses out the store? I said I wanted to buy it later and he said ok you can leave it here. He seemed nervous and awkward. The whole experience had thrown me off and felt slightly prejudice, why would my boyfriends bag of groceries not be ok, but my bag of groceries is ok?? Why? Because I look white? I tried to let it go, my boyfriend wanted me to let it go, so we walked back towards the rear to the look at the furniture. Upon passing NUMEROUS people with empty bags I became infuriated. There was an old white woman with a grey bob haircut and an EMPTY yellow shopping bag wandering around that no one had said anything to. Then there was ANOTHER WOMAN with an empty brown bag wandering around. Why had these people not been asked to check their bags? I wanted to leave, I went back up to the counter and I wanted my bags back. I explained that there seemed to be some prejudice since there was a white woman wandering with her bags unchecked. The man responded that he couldn't check everyone. Well sir, if you can come find my BLACK boyfriend to tell him to check his bag full of groceries, and you DONT want to be perceived as racist, MAYBE you should take the time to go look around at the entire store, you know, just so you don't make anyone feel singled out. Then he told me to go get the white woman! NO, YOU GO GET HER. You had enough time to find my boyfriend and get him, now you don't have enough time to tell the white woman to check her bag? Are you insinuating that Im lying??? I don't fucking work here, Im not the one policing the bags, or is it just the black men you police? And when I told him it felt like he had singled my boyfriend out, his response was that they were the least prejudiced people around, still not getting my bag for me. I told him it didn't seem that way. I continued to ask for my bag and he continued to ramble off stuttering excuses and reasons why he was not prejudiced, all while not getting the bag I asked for. I ignored him and continued to ask for my bag. As we went to leave he said "whatever," to our backs. Yes, a real professional way to handle a disgruntled customer. My advice is this, if you don't want someone to feel singled out, then take the time to make sure they don't, I don't know, maybe by asking EVERY SINGLE PERSON to leave their bags at the front. Your not Saks, if you have a store policy you want upheld, then have someone always at the front to make sure it is being upheld, because the two other employees we walked by with our big bags of groceries said NOTHING to us. I am all for following rules, my father is a sergeant and my boyfriend is a veteran, but I am not about to let someone be subconsciously racist and not get called out on it. My boyfriend deserves an apology. We don't need to steal, we followed your rules, you singled us out, we voiced our feelings and you took an extremely unprofessional way out. GOOD DAY. read more

The owner has no regard for common decency. If you couldn't already tell that from his flippant remarks when people give bad reviews (who does that??!), here's the text exchange he had with my wife. He pissed me off to the point of signing up for Yelp just to publicize how unprofessional he is. (background - we had some furniture and happened upon their business to come pick it up since we wanted to donate it. A couple pieces had some nail polish stains, but they were not in that bad of condition and were nice to begin with. They didn't need to do business with us if they didn't want to. So when my wife asked for a receipt...) Brian: Sorry / it wasted more time than it was entirely worth and it cost more than we received in donation for how much labor we put in. Brian: No receipt. Brian: Cost of our labor and running a truck there. Brian: I would not be able to have a store if every pickup request was like yours. Brian: Those were all items that a reasonable person would have set by the dumpster. Wife: Ok, sorry that I am not a reasonable person. I thought all those items could be used by someone in need of furniture who maybe can't afford new things. Salvation Army would probably have been better for that. Thanks for your help. Brian: They were sold for less money than it took us to pick them up. Brian: So yes they were purchased by someone who needed them Brian: If you are that concerned about poor people you should have taken a cab and brought the items in yourself. Brian: Salvation Army would have been no more grateful then we were. Brian: And yet you still continue to waste my time trying to educate you about economics. Brian: I guess my whole point is try to show some decency the next time you call an organization to pick up donated items and then seek a tax credit for those same items. Brian: And yes we also get calls from people who say "Salvation Army turned down my furniture, would you guys come pick it up?" Wife: Ok, thank you for your time. So we wasted his time, but he has time to go on rants against people who give negative reviews on yelp or who he voluntarily did business with. read more

I'm writing a review on the furniture pick up service. Words cannot adequately describe how thankful I am this service is available. I was able to have same day furniture pick up, that's incredible living in the 60607. I called other places but they couldn't accommodate a same day, only 2 days to 2 weeks out and I was flying out in 2 days exactly. So after calling around & being duped by Craigslist con artists pretending to want to purchase my items; I found Green Elements. I called, was given the info for furniture pick up. I texted Brian my info and pics of my furniture. He came within the hour!!!! He moved everything in LESS THAN AN HOUR and I had a fair amount of items and a limited time to reserve the building's freight elevator. He's super friendly, strong, personable, and his partner was cool too. I'm so happy that my items will go to good use. Brian also gave me a tax letter as well. I can now have a stress free move & look forward to spending time with my friends and family before I leave Chicago. Brian and Green Elements are F'ing AMAZING!!! Thank you thank you thank you! read more

Clearly the people who are panning this place a) have never been to a real thrift shop b) have not the slightest inclination of what prices are in REALITY c) have nothing to occupy their time other than idle bitching. It's a great place--nice staff, a tremendous variety of interesting old junk and some very fine pieces here and there. The fact that there are not many prices means (yo, stooopits!) that they NEGOTIATE with you on prices.........I just got four books, a pillow, a frame, a large measuring cup, and a hole puncher for a grand total of $7.50. So tired of the spoiled rotten yuppie attitudes which permeate so many Yelp reviews! read more

A good friend of mine works at this place so I really want to write a good review but alas this place is overprriced period. Edited.... ebay used to make prices up??? if i wanted ebay at a thrift store id order on ebay! read more

definitely recommend this place!! You can find great items for a good price. Great selection in books and movies. I was most happy with the staff. I can honestly say that this shop has some of the friendliest staff I've ever came across (which is definitely hard to find now a days). read more

I like this place, i think the workers there are cool. The only problem I have is that its way crowded with stuff. Some stuff i came across were stained and not fit for anybody to purchase, but i know the owner Brian would have removed those things had he found them. also, some things are a little overpriced. but i like this place because all the money goes to a good cause, and the workers there sweat their asses off solely for this cause. they don't make much profit i'm sure. you all should volunteer there. read more

Finally the Green Element gets it!!! Their pricing is more in-line with resale shops. I was in the shop on Tuesday, and an older gentleman helped me find what I had asked for and I wound up buying several other items that I didn't even know I needed! It was awesome. The selection on hand was amazing and the service was outstanding. I will be back and would recommend that everyone shop there! read more

Went a few times when I first moved to the area, and loved it. Went in today and there's apparently a new "sheriff in town" who believes that hiking up the price is a good idea for business. A scratched up Fiesta dish set for $95!? There was a like new all white set in the window with double the pieces for $75. Does that make any sense?? If they keep churning up the prices on mostly donated items then I don't see this business improving. By far, I've seen better thrift stores, neatly arranged and with employees that have decent customer service. Greed seems to be getting the best of this business, I don't plan to go back any time soon. Worth a pass. read more

I went to see what this was about. It was great. Many different things and Bill helped me out with things I was looking for. He was so nice and attentive. I did not see that the prices were out of line with any other resale shop. We will be making this one of my favorite places to check out regularly. read more

The store was recommended to me by a friend of a friend, so i decided to pay them a visit. The thing that stuck out the most to me was that about 80% of the items don't have a price on them. At 1 end of the store, I found a base of a table, with no price. I then carried it with me and went to the other side of the store and found a glass top, which was stacked on top of about 3 or 4 other glass tops, and obviously to heavy and oversized for the base. At that time an older gentleman employee was in the area and I asked the price of the glass top, he told me $25. I then asked about the price of the base, and he told me he couldn't sell the base alone because it was part of a set, with a glass top, and he looked at the glass top I had in my hand, and said he believed that was it. He only said that because I took the top and placed it on the base, which is when I realized it was too heavy, and obviously did no go with the base. I then told him how I found the base on the other side of the store, and that I was only interested in IT, which he said he couldn't sell separately. He was not rude, he was actually very nice, but the owner should start pricing the items. They should also think about making it a point to keep items that are in a supposed set together, so it doesn't seem suspicious, like in this situation. I was interested in more things I came across, but after that encounter, and the fact that nothing was priced, it turned me off. read more

Absolutely horrific service for measly merchandise. If you want to be treated like dirt for a cheap, old rag, that's up to you. I've only gone twice and each time the crotchety old cashier (owner?) is raising his voice at customers about how offended he is by simple things they say. I was there yesterday and this older woman asked for the price of a pair of pants and he told her $5 and she said "I don't think I can spend that on a pair of donated pants." Pretty harmless, but you'd think she had spit on his dog, he started yelling about how rude she was and how offended he was. The other time a father and son came in and bought a set of furniture and they thought a piece nearby was a part of it so they picked it up to place in their truck with the rest. The horrible man started yelling about how they were trying to cheat him and once again how offended he was and how he shouldn't do business with the likes of them. I will never go back after this experience. read more