Charity shops

Going4TheDream

Merry_Wanderer wrote: »

I was in a charity shop in town, and while looking through the books and thinking how I would have bought a couple had they been a bit cheaper, I overheard the guy behind the counter saying to a customer (who also happenned to be saying something was too expensive) "well make me an offer, .. if you don't like the price, just come and see me".

Anyone else haggled in a charity shop?

Not personally but today I was in the Salvation Army shop waiting by the till whilst my daughter tried on a few bits. An elderly lady had a book and was quite perturbed when she was told that it was 79p, she loudly pointed out 'they are only 50p in Cancer Research'... the man took her money and asked if she would like a bag upon which she replied 'NO I imagine you will try to charge me for that too' and left!

It did make me smile especially as a few shops earlier I had picked up a top and thought mmm that is nice little top in my size. I used to have the same top but in a larger size and gave it away when I lost weight. It was about 5 years ago and cost about £8 ish new. It was £4 and I thought I am not paying that for a 2nd hand George top!!!

I think I have been spoiled by carboot sales and at least I am not alone in thinking that charity shops have are becoming a tad more expensive than they used to be, I thought I was just being tight!!!!!

mesh

Charity Shops? I Love 'em! mother introduced me to the Oxfam shop many, many years ago and I remember the manager was a lady with fully permed hair, shedloads of make up and wafts of perfume and a ciggie in a holder.... what a wonderful woman she was. Anyway, I digress, I have over the years bought a full Clarence Cliff tea service in the early 1980s for £10, a fab Indian wall hanging complete with rail, clips etc, no end of linen table cloths embroidered and retro prints, kitchen tools, cooking utensils, odds n sods, some clothing (not much as I am 6' tall!), books, material (covered an armchair with a CS find). Last week I found a purple and gold velvet/silk throw. I could go on forever. My OH knows wherever we go, I go CS looking. OH can go and gaze longingly at tools and I do CS!

I find if you go with an open mind and think 'what else can I use this for' then you will be surprised. At the moment, I am after odds n sods to stick around a frame on a mirror so cheap jewelry which I can dismantle and anything which is unusual is what I am on the look out for.

Its true what someone has said, the better the area, the better the CS! I really miss jumble sales, not been to one for years and haven't seen one advertised for years too! wish they would come back.....:)

Uniscots97

I gave up 6 months of my life to work (for free) for a cancer charity. I preferred working in their charity shop and got some lovely bargains (M&S Autograph suit for my Mum £6, M&S skirt for me £3, YSL shirt for stepson £2, and various DVDs for a £1). I do agree that some CS's are getting pretty expensive but the pricing is upto the manager and some don't know what all the labels are (I had to point out 'Atmosphere' is Primark is the store where I worked). I do agree about books though, I paid £2.50 for a pretty tatty paperback I was after which I though was quite steep!

betterlife

my local town has about 14 charity shops at last count, and i cant resist them when i pop into town, ive had many bargains for me , husband and kids! ive also bought the odd thing to sell on ebay, i agree that some are getting a bit pricey and even upmarket, but saying that there are still bargains to be found my favourite is devon air ambulance, they get regular stock and there prices are really good, i also think sometimes second hand is better quality than new!, i also love carboot sales:)

Reverbe

ekkygirl wrote: »

I saw a Topshop dress in Oxfam today for £14.99 !!! I have this dress which cost me £11 in the sale in Topshop brand new. Charity shops are greedy and I hardly ever buy there now, I used to love hunting for bargains but they have priced themselves out of my market and I'm sure I am not alone in this thought. I agree about the local hospice and charity shops they are much more reasonable.

I work for one of those and am becoming more dishearted with every shift. I would never donate there after seeing what they throw away etc.I was told to take a bag of rejects to the back of the store and found a see through bag there with a lovely patterned pashmina I would have bought. Yet again I saw tons of good quality M&S Next and better stuff binned cos apparently they dont look attractive to the customer. I have shopped in CS all my life as well as working in retail and TBH i know what customers like more than they seem to. They think poncified as the way to go but look at how popular Primark is and there is nothing fancy about their displays etc. They do well at primarni cos they are affordable.

I also found an lovely collection of vintage Georgette Heyer novels in really good nick in a plastic stacker box which i think was deemed for recycling/binning. I oohd at them cos I know a blogger I read who collects them and the guy who does the books said to me is he a famous writer then? He insists on doing the books, pricing them etc cos they say he knows books and nobody else is allowed to sort. price, process the books etc but TBh the man doesnt know his books ...

angeltreats

I was shocked yesterday to find a brand new Kenwood Chef pasta attachment for £2.99 in the most expensive charity shop in our town. Of course I snapped it up. It's quite weird, they price their clothing and books really high but electrical/household items much less so.

THIRZAH

I don't know what other charity shops do with stuff they can't sell but Oxfam has recycling warehouses for books and clothes.

bramble1

We just had a charity shop open in our village, I had a peek yesterday, it didn't seem to have much in there, hopefully it will get more stock in over the coming weeks.

abaxas

ekkygirl wrote: »

I saw a Topshop dress in Oxfam today for £14.99 !!! I have this dress which cost me £11 in the sale in Topshop brand new. Charity shops are greedy and I hardly ever buy there now, I used to love hunting for bargains but they have priced themselves out of my market and I'm sure I am not alone in this thought. I agree about the local hospice and charity shops they are much more reasonable.

I avoid Oxfam for the same reasons and prefer to go to local ones rather than nation shops.

Never know what you are going to find!

Hobsons_Choice

Trouble is....Oxfam have the BEST M&S/Per Una clothes (at a price) because of the £5 voucher they give you for donating M&S stuff.
I don't bother sending stuff there just to get the voucher though, you have to spend over £35 at M&S to get £5 off.:eek:
I'd rather support our local charity that doesn't pay managers, spend money on bags through the door and doesn't advertise. Still gets the donations though!
On the subject of "bags through the door", please check carefully before you fill them. Some aren't quite what they seem :cool: