Playing hooky from your life can be so much fun! FDC and I took advantage of a beautiful spring day while the kids were still in school. We took days off our jobs and headed down the shore. We discovered the St. Damien Thrift Shop by accident, we were on our way somewhere else nearby and we saw a plain black & white sign draped on a building proclaiming it to be a "THRIFT SHOP". We love thrift shops, so this was a must-stop. The shop is on the first floor of a commercial office/retail building. It doesn't look like much on the outside but like many treasures the best is hidden behind the doors. I knew it was someplace special when, as we walked in, there were Pfaltzgraff "Gourmet Brown/Brown Drip" pattern serving ware and plates on display, and memories of my childhood flooded back. FDC and I gasped, and quickly selected some of our favorite pieces - they were in pristine condition. From there it just got better. This shop benefits the ministries of St. Damien, and the people of this congregation have clearly generously donated to support the effort. The store is chock full of items - kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, clothing closets, books, CD, DVD, VHS, decor items, artwork jewelry, tons of items to outfit yourself and your home. Another treasure found by FDC was a perfect-condition Roseville Pottery planter. It was, of course, among the pricier items, but given it's relative value was also quite a bargain. The volunteers working at the shop were all quite lovely, helpful, cheerful and knew just where things were (which, given the amount of stock, was pretty amazing). This place was very definitely a 'find', and I look forward to more treasure hunts! read more

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This store keeps weird hours, and are run solely by volunteers so even the posted hours aren't precise. I arrived 20 minutes after their posted open hours on Friday and still had to wait outside a few minutes while they got things ready. The store is located on the second floor across from the bus depot. A pay lot and metered street parking but no private lot. Inside the place is extremely tight with little rooms separating the various departments. Lots of nick nicks, some vintage all displayed nicely on wicker shelving units I would have wanted to purchase. I felt very uneasy walking through as it's very hard to avoid knocking items down. I did not look at clothes. Prices were higher than average and more in line with an antique store. There's good stuff here, but not anything that had to come home with me. Honestly I didn't spend too much time here as I was feeling claustrophobic. read more

This is my go to thrift shop while in OCNJ. Great selection and reasonably priced. Happy thrifting.

I really hate to give any thrift shop a negative review, especially when the money goes to a charity. I appreciate the work that all thrift stores and their staff members do for the community. However, I have to write this review in hopes that this business may make some improvements to its store in the future. My mom and I were excited to check out this thrift shop. We are avid thrift shoppers and love buying secondhand clothing and items. From the second we walked in, the smell was so bad that we didn't know if we should continue to walk any further. It was pretty crowded in there - the place is extremely tight with a narrow hallway that has enough standing room for one person in front of the other. The shop is divided into small rooms (more like cubicles) that are (very messily) organized by category. If one person is in one of those rooms, there really isn't enough space for someone else to browse. It's extremely claustrophobic in there, and I found myself thinking that it's a safety hazard. Everything is clumsily thrown onto shelves or even on the floors, and the entire place could use a good cleaning. It's a shame because I'm sure it has potential to be a very nice shop, but the owners should consider doing a remodel, even if it's just reorganizing the layout of the shop or knocking down some of those walls to open up the space more. They could divide the sections using shelving if they want to categorize it, but the individual rooms are too tiny to be comfortable. read more

i found so many great brands of clothing like Zara, American eagle, nordstrom, and nike for very low prices (2dollars!) when i first rnt in i didnt have any hope but it is an amazing store. read more