What is your charity shop bargain of the week?

kboss2010

Pollycat wrote: »

Well done. :T

Isn't it a wonderful feeling when you've been looking for something, even considered buying it new and there it is! Just what you wanted. And a bargain to boot.


I missed out on one of those glass thermometers with floating temperature balls the other week.
OH would like one (he's not said as much but I know he would) but this woman was paying for it as I walked into the hospice shop.

Thanks, yep that one was a spur of the moment c/s visit as well while waiting for a friend who was late - very serendipitous!

I'm gutted about the Tiffany lamp since we inherited one and OH has decided he'd like them for the rest of the living room and we need at least 2 matching table lamps and a tall floor lamp - I dread to think how much they're going to cost :eek: - my mse skills will be stretched on this one I feel!

Pollycat

Beenie wrote: »

The annoying thing is that most people don't post their location - going on and on about your bargains just makes the rest of us burst with vexation. Please mention your location when posting, says Beenie of Chelmsford.

Just curious what difference knowing that would make.

Some people wish to remain anonymous on a public forum.

Beenie

Nothing sinister.

I think it's interesting to know where people are located,and also bust a few myths about the generosity or otherwise of the people who donate. If someone is always picking up really nice items, and the rest of us are sifting through BHS/Primark rags, then they are in a better area than we are!

Just a bit of fun really, and people can ignore me........

Art_Deco

ilovetea wrote: »

I work in a charity shop and if it is a copy we do NOT sell it.
Counterfeit goods should not be sold.
ilovetea xx

Just got me wondering what does your shop do with things they consider fake? do they send them for authentication or is it just a matter of someone saying "thats fake mine doesnt look like that" before throwing them away?:eek:

DigForVictory

I lament some charity shop chains that immediately rag uniforms - nurse, police, army, navy, whomever. The policy is to prevent misrepresentation, however, it is severely denting the available uniforms on the market to those who do reenacting who'd pay serious money for a genuine battledress blouse or trousers (or gloves or boots or hats etc). Still, other charity shops do not take this line & are very much the richer for it.
Says she who happily wears a Luftwaffe mess overcoat (with REME buttons) which cost me £25 when a similar size & length coat cost my friend £300, but she was buying new from Jaeger, being American & suffering in our climate whereas I was rifling through the army surplus warehouse looking for Anything that was Warm! Known by my family as "Adolf", my sons borrow it for fancy dress parties & we've found it engulfs even a plaster cast on the wrist...

Floss

I found 3 beautiful etched champagne coupes (the wide shallow glasses) for £2 in our local Sense shop. I also found a set of 6 small glass bowls, which will be upcycled into bird feeders

Amber_Sunshine

I'm getting a bit portly now I've hit menopause, so am having trouble shoehorning myself into my old trousers (after a lifetime of being sz 6). Just scored two pairs in great condition, one is Adolfo Dominguez (trousers start at €100) on the Everything €2 day at Humana :T

ilovetea

Art_Deco wrote: »

Just got me wondering what does your shop do with things they consider fake? do they send them for authentication or is it just a matter of someone saying "thats fake mine doesnt look like that" before throwing them away?:eek:

Hi. we look things up on line, and we do have an expert that helps sometime.
The quality isn't always there on some of the fakes either.bad stitching,wonky zips etc.

ilovetea xx

kboss2010

Beenie wrote: »

Nothing sinister.

I think it's interesting to know where people are located,and also bust a few myths about the generosity or otherwise of the people who donate. If someone is always picking up really nice items, and the rest of us are sifting through BHS/Primark rags, then they are in a better area than we are!

Just a bit of fun really, and people can ignore me........

C/S shopping in "rich" areas is great! I've seen new quilted Barbour jackets for £20, expensive branded ski jackets for £5 (I nearly had a heart attack when I googled mine & found out it was worth £400 from a scruffy, cluttered c/s in Edinburgh!), nearly-new Ralph Lauren/Joules tops & jumpers for £4 or less, Mulberry & Fossil handbags & purses for £10-30, Jones leather riding boots for £5, Dior heels for £10 etc. Etc.

My "labels" in my wardrobe are all exclusively from c/s, I refuse to pay £40 for a new top that won't last any longer than my cheaper ones.

The rest of my wardrobe is 80% Uniqlo trousers, Markies tops & Fat Face boots (sale or eBay) - I'm a creature of habit with clothes, I hate finding stuff I like that I feel is worth the price on the tag so I buy in sales in bulk when I find something I like. I have 4 pairs of the same FF boots in different colours and 6 pairs of Uniqlo skinny-fit cords in various colours that I got in the sales a year ago reduced from £25 to £8!

Pollycat

Beenie wrote: »

Nothing sinister.

I think it's interesting to know where people are located,and also bust a few myths about the generosity or otherwise of the people who donate. If someone is always picking up really nice items, and the rest of us are sifting through BHS/Primark rags, then they are in a better area than we are!

Just a bit of fun really, and people can ignore me........

I don't think that is true at all.

I remember this conversation from a while ago about a Jaeger coat I'd just bought:

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Pollycat, you have to tell us where you live! Is it the posh end of town?

Pollycat wrote: »

Not posh at all - in fact in the last 6 months, we've had 3 charity shops close down. :eek:

I live in an ex mining village in North East Derbyshire.
Our local town high street is full of charity shops, betting shops and £1 shops - and empty units.

So.........yesterday I bought a Crew Clothing jersey long sleeved dress in cream, royal and navy blue 'splodges'.
I'd not heard of the make before but the jersey felt really good quality and the label looked 'posh'.
And at £1.00 how could I not buy it?
Our local Air Ambulance seems to have flash £1.00 sales and I'm hitting it right so far.

http://www.crewclothing.co.uk/
Probably around £60 - £70 new.

Spent a few hours with my Mum and told her about my new hobby of jigsaws.
She asked me to find her one and back in town in the Air Ambulance shop I found a box with 4 x 250 pieces of WW2 fighter aircraft.
My Mum is a Lancaster & Spitfire fan and those are 2 of the designs and the other 2 are Hawker Hurricane & Mosquito.
Still in their 4 sealed individual bags.
Best of all, there's a CD of WW2 music including 633 Squadron, Dambusters, Colonel Bogey, The Great Escape theme plus others.

She will be over the moon with it.

As jigsaws are 2 for £1 I bought a 1500 piece one for me with a whale's tail, lots of sea and glaciers.