Goodwill Hunting — 10/26/19
Goodwill is one of the best places to find used puzzles for a good price and I personally have had very good luck with them being complete. So far, out of the ones I’ve done from there I’ve only had one very small children’s puzzle I bought for Cole that had a missing piece.
I have three Goodwill stores I frequent. Two not far from my house and the the third by my office. I love to pop in every couple of weeks and check out their puzzle selections.
As you can see from the pictures above, there is a wide variety in the quality in the puzzles I find there. When I first started shopping, I grabbed pretty much everything I saw, even if I only somewhat liked the image. I was just so excited to have the ability to buy 1000 piece puzzles for 99 cents to about $2.99 for a big one.
Now, I am a little more discerning and will pass on any Puzzlebug, Encore, and Cardinal puzzles as they have some cute images, but are of terrible quality. These are typically the puzzles you find at Dollar stores or Big Lots where even brand new and still sealed they are only a $1 or 2. Not worth it in my mind.
The biggest selection of puzzles I have found at Goodwill and purchased are ones from popular manufacturers like Buffalo, Caeco, MB, Big Ben, and a few others. Much more rare, but still occasionally found are Ravensburger, Educa, and Castorland. I always scoop up any of those I find quickly before anyone else notices there’s a good one there! LOL
Now, every once in a great while — and this is mighty rare, I will find the Holy Grail of used puzzle shopping — a still factory sealed, unopened puzzle box! Talk about excitement! I can usually be seen (discreetly of course) doing a a happy dance in the aisle at Goodwill when I spot one of these beauties. In the approximate 1.5 years I have been shopping at these Goodwill stores, I have spotted and grabbed about 4 of these…that’s how rarely it happens.
My most recent Holy Grail moment was this past weekend when I stopped into the Goodwill closest to my house. This is what I found…
Isn’t it beautiful?! I am sure this one will not be the least bit easy, but it is gorgeous and would look amazing hung up somewhere in my house I’m sure. I look forward to doing it someday.