What is your charity-shop weakness?

dogcat_2

I always have to go into Charity Shops....can't resist!....I have had some amazing finds. I have got most of my jewellery from them. I only ususally wear silver..and I've got some fantastic unusual pieces, I also bought a gorgeous black suede trenchcoat for £3.00.

You have to keep looking and sift through a lot of 'junk' to find what you're looking for.

thriftwizard

I think the local charity shops can sometimes be the best and sometimes be with worst - they're not subjected to the rigorous checks & balances that the High St. ones are, but neither are they subject to the national pricing schemes etc. From my point of view I want to see them stay independent, & often find my best bargains in them, but I can quite see why yours are disappointing!

Down here stuff is only kept for a maximum of 4 weeks - more usually two - no matter how "good" the label. Small shops & high rents mean quick turnover, but sadly most of them don't have a "sale" rail out most of the time - the stuff just goes. And most of them don't keep secondhand knitting needles etc. any more - "no call for it nowadays" - but many of them do stock new yarn & needles at eye watering prices.

Toonie

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

JoJo come nawf of the river, innit. There's a fantastic British Heart Foundation store in Walthamstow right near the tube/bus station in the Wotsit Centre/Shopping Precinct. They only carry furniture and electrical goods and they deliver. I know they do north and east London but not sure about places farther and wider. The market in the High Street is worth a couple of hours of anybody's time at the weekend in any case. There's a really good trad pie and eel place there, too. Mash and liquor, anyone? And it's on the way to the big Oxfam on the corner.

The BHF charity shop is fantastic in Walthamstow, when I finally get my "studio" (at present room piled with boxes) sorted I shall be popping along to see if I can find myself a good desk from as they deliver. There is also a good Salvation Army charity shop on Forest Road that has furniture which I'll be checking too.

Most of the charity shops in Walthamstow are quite good value, especially handy having just moved to the area and in need of some crockery and glasses. We have a lot of local charity shops as well, one of which had a £1 sale last weekend, I've never seen it so crowded, but it made room for new stock.

At present I'm looking for books about gardening as having never had a garden before I'm not too green fingered, but I would love to grow some vegetables. I also love looking for any music books and maps which I use in my art work, as well as buttons and old beads for jewellery making.

building_with_lego

Toonie wrote: »

The BHF charity shop is fantastic in Walthamstow, when I finally get my "studio" (at present room piled with boxes) sorted I shall be popping along to see if I can find myself a good desk from as they deliver. There is also a good Salvation Army charity shop on Forest Road that has furniture which I'll be checking too.

Most of the charity shops in Walthamstow are quite good value, especially handy having just moved to the area and in need of some crockery and glasses. We have a lot of local charity shops as well, one of which had a £1 sale last weekend, I've never seen it so crowded, but it made room for new stock.

At present I'm looking for books about gardening as having never had a garden before I'm not too green fingered, but I would love to grow some vegetables. I also love looking for any music books and maps which I use in my art work, as well as buttons and old beads for jewellery making.

We have a local hospice shop and I got chatting to one of the ladies who volunteer there. She told me that they'll often take £700-800 on a Saturday, but when they have a half price sale day (every month or so) they'll take £1000! :eek:

FWIW I check: toys, adult books, children's books, adult clothes and homewares, in that order. I'm always hankering after Lego and interesting books and clothes. Last week I bought a load of Next and Accessorize necklaces for between 50p and £1.25 each and a pair of Mini Boden skinny jeans for 70p. I know lots of people hate the idea of wearing second- hand clothes but I love nothing more than being complimented on my outfit and being able to reveal that it came from "one of the local 'boutiques' ". :rotfl:

BitterAndTwisted

Well, I've just come back from a weekend staying with friends in West Kensington and gave the CSs in Putney and Fulham a good scour and am pleased to report the acquisition of the following delightful items:

A nest of three red and white oval lidded tins £4.50

A pair of brand-new flat suede shoes like Merrells £8.99 (Not really needed right this minute but ready and waiting).

A pair of brand-new fleece slippers like little calf-high boots in a leopard-skin pattern £2 Cosy!

Because I am the proud owner of a new (to me) bread-maker my super friend bought me a lovely bread-maker recipe book.

One that got away: the most beautiful grey alpaca winter coat for £15. Light as a feather and as soft as down. Alas, I own three good winter coats, one of which is already a grey alpaca one, so even I couldn't justify buying another.

The comments about over-optimistic pricing were not echoed on my travels where clothing and linens were concerned: I saw some fantastic bargains for really top-quality lined curtains, although some of the kitchen-type things in one of the 0xfam shops were priced almost at the same level as new ones for things like Bodum.

Happy hunting, folks!

Turkishdreamer

I was very interested to read many of the pricing comments in this thread.

I work in a Charity Shop and we work to a 'Price Guide', that means that we grade quality and charge accordingly. Meaning that Primark does not get priced as Radley and vice versa.

Anything we have not sold after 2 weeks, gets transferred to one of our other shops and any unsaleable/dirty/smelly/poor quality items are ragged and we get recycling money for them.

I too have been to other shops and the prices are very random.

Although I work in a Charity Shop, I too am drawn to others and spend many a happy hour perusing other shops.

My weaknesses are books, books and more books. Cookery being my main fettish.

Ches

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver wrote: »

I have worn Silk Shirts and Cashmere Sweaters and it has helped keep me warm when the flat is too cold or cool when too hot.
*Takes my hat off to you fellow Kinsmen!*:beer::money:

I might have served you if you shop where you live.

angeltreats

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

JoJo come nawf of the river, innit. There's a fantastic British Heart Foundation store in Walthamstow right near the tube/bus station in the Wotsit Centre/Shopping Precinct. They only carry furniture and electrical goods and they deliver. I know they do north and east London but not sure about places farther and wider. The market in the High Street is worth a couple of hours of anybody's time at the weekend in any case. There's a really good trad pie and eel place there, too. Mash and liquor, anyone? And it's on the way to the big Oxfam on the corner.

I'm an ex Clapton resident, I lived right by the River Lea so could just cycle across the marshes to all the charity shops and the market in Walthamstow... oh how I miss the fabric stalls! We donated our old telly and loads of other stuff to that BHF shop when we moved to Wiltshire, it's a great shop.

I know it's probably a bit of a trek but if you ever find yourself in Stoke Newington there's a couple of great charity shops there. Mind in particular used to be really good, I found lots of vintage clothes, really cool old cameras, brand new books, jewellery etc for very reasonable prices. You'd expect things in Stokey to be priced a bit high but they weren't at all.

BitterAndTwisted

Stokey is just a short bus-ride away from where I am, I can see the River Lea from my living-room window, so you would have cycled right past my home. I just have to take a stroll down to Seven Sisters to catch the bus. Thanks for the heads-up: I've never ventured down there. I think I will now

Dragoncry

Hi
I went into town Monday morning after reading on here... I decided to go have a look in the shops we have there, about 6 or 7 in total all fairly close together. There are usually 1 or 2 people in there but I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it. Every shop was choc-a-bloc with people ! There were adverts on every window requesting new donations as they weren't coping with demand. It was a real eye opener and sadly no bargains or anything tempted me. Came away feeling a bit low tbh.
Has anyone else had this around their area?

DC xx