Charity shops

Chickenopolis

My best buy in a charity shop was a skin tight black velvet long dress. I had the same one at home but an ex boyfriend of mine had somehow managed to burn it with a cigarette and ruined it.

The dress was the same size and colour as my orginal minus the burn of course. My luck was in that day. I still have the dress and a friend of mine has also borrowed it . When people ask where I brought it from I am only too pleased to tell them it was from a CS and cost £3.75 !

Jariya

Chickenopolis wrote: »

My best buy in a charity shop was a skin tight black velvet long dress. I had the same one at home but an ex boyfriend of mine had somehow managed to burn it with a cigarette and ruined it.

The dress was the same size and colour as my orginal minus the burn of course. My luck was in that day. I still have the dress and a friend of mine has also borrowed it . When people ask where I brought it from I am only too pleased to tell them it was from a CS and cost £3.75 !

That was a seriously lucky find!!

*cough* Yeah...I can't help but to tell people where I got things and how much they were when I get a compliment on something.
I do get a lot of compliments on my clothes as many aren't 'current' in the shops and I tend to buy more classic things which will last years in charity shops.
I got a compliment yesterday on a little jacket I bought in New Look (makes a change for me!) It is grey and fake velvet with a waterfall collar and three quarter length sleeves and it was a fiver in the sale at Christmas.
The lady who complimented me now wants to come shopping with me! She buys designer everything.

Giddy_kipper

I love charity shops for jewellery finds. Even things that I don't like as they are can be taken apart or lengthened and beads added as needed in a sort of vintage meets modern twist and at least my jewellery is a one off

I like using brooches and converting them to pendants - some of them are old fashioned and I wouldn't wear as a brooch but a bit of tweaking can make it into something lovely. Some things are lovely as they are of course. I found a lovely bangle recently - no special base metal or anything but it was covered in gorgeous mother of pearl and looks lovely worn among my other bangles - an absolute bargain at 50p.

Ohh I love charity-shop-shopping :j

Naide

I used to frequent charity shops in the 80's when they were little treasure troves where nothing was organised and you really had to rummage. I loved that! These days I don't enjoy them as much when they look like boutiques with prices to match! Until just recently there was one near me which was like the ones in the 80's: books piled up, things slung in boxes and it was brilliant. A new manager has arrived, tidied it up and put the prices up. I only go there occasionally now. The manager commented that she hadn't seen me for a while and that her regulars didn't seem to be popping in much. I wonder why?

Jariya

See..me..if I go in a charity shop I look at every single item of clothing in there..adult womens and kids also every single one - no matter what colour or size - I check the lot 'just in case'. Maybe that's why I find so many lovely things for £2 to £4.
When I go charity shopping..I mean it! Haha!

Ches

Just popped on to say that on Friday I found 2 Edinburgh Chrystal white wine glasses still with the labels on, for 75p each. I also got a Dash top for £3.75p that looks like new. But my best find is still the Gerry Webber red satin look casual coat I got for £12 thats probably mentioned somewhere at the beginning of the original thread.

TravellingAbuela

I find myself visiting charity shops more and more these days - it's developed into a kind of hobby I think! First it was for books (I'm an avid reader) but how prices vary between one shop and another! Paperbacks in some shops can be as much as £1.50 whereas in others they are still as little as 25p. OH likes to rummage through the CD's whilst I am looking through the rest of the shop and they too vary in price drastically between shops.

My most recent good find is a Liz Claiborne tailored jacket (black with cream edging) brand new and fits me like a glove - for £7.99! When I tried it on I had half of the other customers admiring it! I can't wait for a special occasion to wear it!

If I go a week these days without a good trawl through the charity shops I get withdrawal symptoms!!

Hobsons_Choice

I find shopping at the Chazzers is better on Fridays. They seem to put the "new" stuff out ready for the weekend - and I can get there first!

Gettingtherequickly

TravellingAbuela wrote: »

Paperbacks in some shops can be as much as £1.50 whereas in others they are still as little as 25p.

I must be doing something wrong! I went into the Oxfam Bookshop on Friday in Kingston and they cost me £2.49 per book, plus £1 each for 2 little books on Kilmainham Jail in Dublin which caught my eye on the way out!

On the flip side, it was an office trip out for lunch which we didn't have to pay for, although I did have to pay parking:D

Reverbe

Have recently started volunteering for one of my local ones and I am very disheartened by what goes on.The stuff they just throw away which is perfectly good and can be put on sale is astonishing. I found several things which were perfectly fine including a HM knitted jumper which wasnt trendy but was warm and would have gone well with jeans. Some of the staff seemed to have a dressing up session which resulted in one of them putting something on and keeping it on right out of the donation bag - not sure if she paid for it or priced it after my shift was over.The snobbery that went on with regard to some china which they were going to bin just cos it wasnt to their taste etc til one staff member said well someone might like it.. I donated some books recently and I think they are still on the shelf in the back as they have hundreds not on display.

I will think twice about donating there myself. TBH they seem to be more concerned with making it look like a trendy items only retail high street store than making money.