Lightbulb moment re charity shop prices!

Austin_Allegro

thriftwizard wrote: »

Austin Allegro, I'm fascinated to hear about CSs/thrift stores - and also car boot sales, brocantes etc. - in other countries. Whether they have them, and how they are "evolving" if indeed they are. Our CSs are undoubtedly turning into secondhand high street emporiums, run along big business lines; I sometimes wonder whether they are actually making any more money in real terms (i.e. after paying rents, salaries, accountants, advertising campaigns etc.) than they were before they "professionalised" themselves? (That's a genuine query, by the way!)

All the CSs I knew of in Spain seem to have closed their doors, but that's only a small area of Spain and they were all run by ex-pats (albeit often supported by locals) in support of animal charities; I don't know what happens elsewhere. But car boot sales are big now; I know of one trader who goes over every month for a specific one in Murcia, brings his trophies back & flogs them off at a big one here for ten times what he paid over there. And others who make regular trips to France for the same reasons. Which is rather sad when so much of our own heritage is just sent off for pulping, scrapping or turning into chipboard!

My experience of foreign charity shops is rare, but for what it's worth:

USA: I visited a few thrift shops on the west coast of the USA and also in Florida, about ten years ago. They were pretty good. The two main charities are Goodwill and the Salvation Army but they also have local ones. Some are as big as a UK supermarket. Clothes weren't particularly good (but those areas of the US are not known for their stylish dressers) but furniture, homeware and tools/electrical stuff was all good.

Hungary: where I spend most of the year. As far as I know there are only two charity shops in the whole country, we had three in Budapest but one closed down. The mentality is totally different here. You keep your stuff going until it is too far-gone to be mended, then it is either turned into something else, or left out on street cleaning days to be collected by romany gypsies (no idea what they do with it, sell it for scrap I suppose). So there is very little stuff that people can donate.

Also, flea markets (sometimes called Polish Markets) are popular and people sell their unwanted stuff there. There are loads of commercially run second hand clothes shops, with stuff of variable quality, most of which I suspect comes from unsold goods in UK charity shops, UK shop soiled items and stuff from those 'charity' bags on UK doorsteps.

[Deleted User]

I was away in t'big city last weekend and the charity shop prices were much lower than those in the small provincial town nearest the village which was a real surprise. Mind, when I think that one through I suppose they must get more donations in a city and perhaps a bigger turnover of stock so keeping prices lower means less to store. I found 2 lovely cookery books, both of which looked brand new at £2.50 each which I was happy to pay and I haven't seen a bargain like that form months now in the home ones! Cheers Lyn x.

meritaten

an 'Everyones child' charity shop opened up in the village - and they used to sell paperbacks for about £1 - I was delighted to find they were six for a pound last weekend! so I bought 9 and was happy to give them £2.
next week they are going to the veg shop where they will be sold for 25pence in aid of Alzhiemers!

Austin_Allegro

meritaten wrote: »

an 'Everyones child' charity shop opened up in the village - and they used to sell paperbacks for about £1 - I was delighted to find they were six for a pound last weekend! so I bought 9 and was happy to give them £2.
next week they are going to the veg shop where they will be sold for 25pence in aid of Alzhiemers!

IMO 25-50p for mass market paperbacks from the 60s/70s/80s/90s/00s is about right.

Anything older or more recent could go for a bit more, say a pound or two, but these shops charging £3-5 pounds or even more for paperbacks are daft, especially when you can get them for a penny plus postage on a certain online bookseller.

Sweet_Pea_Cottage

I rarely go in CS's now. Car boots are so much better. Realistic pricing. Paperbacks for 25p to a £1. Clothes 50p to a few £'s an item.