Charity shops - expensive?

Penelope_Penguin

da_ra_sa wrote: »

I have always used local charity shops as an alternative to buying brand new, but over the last year or so I have noticed that they are not the cheap alternative that they used to be

You're not the first to notice this I still find charity shops the best place to but clothes, and in so doing, I keep "stuff" from landfill.

I'll add this to the existing thread.

Penny. x

N9eav

Since starting this thread 2 years ago, things have not changed much. Oxfam is the worst for over pricing, but things seem to sell. I won't buy anything that is over priced. The quantity is not there either, maybe people are making do a bit longer with their things?
There is the occasional bargain...
I did get a suit a few weeks back though for £8 , Moss Bros, wool too. I was lucky as I saw the jacket on one rail and then the trousers on another. As they were a split item, they were significantly cheaper. Snapped that one up!
Also got a box of 6 24% lead crystal brandy glasses for £4.99. But generally the prices are too high....

Fozz

My local charity shop is Cats Protection and they are very reasonable, Jumpers are £2, and T-shirts & short sleeved tops £1. You can get 3 paperbacks for a pound, whereas most town centre shops charge at least £1 per book.
The staff are all very friendly and work hard, obviously many of them are cat lovers who also foster/rescue cats, so have a personal interest in raising money. I go in there most weeks, and am seriously considering volunteering as it's only round the corner from me!

Hardup_Hester

I've swapped to ebay for clothes, I bought 12 tops for £2, I had to pay postage which was £6, but still less than £1 a top, way cheaper than most charity shops.

greenbee

I guess they're probably selling items at the prices they can get for them - people on this board are probably more aware of the alternatives and how cheaply they can get things than the majority of people who are shopping in the charity shops!

There has been a lot of publicity recently about how short charity shops are of clothes as people are hanging on to things for longer since the start of the credit crunch (or possibly ebaying them before thinking of donating them).

I see donating to charity shops as a good way of avoiding landfill and making a contribution to a good cause. I also don't have the time to ebay them, so it make sense for me.

It seems that the charity shops are good value for things like suits (and wedding dresses apparently!) and smart clothes, but not for jeans or casual stuff.

I have promised that I'll make more of an effort to cull my clothing this year, and it will be going to charity shops, either for resale or for recycling. It won't be going to the charities who ship it out to Africa to sell, flooding the market with european clothing and taking work away from the local textile workers...

Justamum

One of the problems is that so much clothing is just cheap tat when it's bought new these days, so definitely isn't worth buying second hand.

mrslovetocook

When I was young, aagghhh. I promised I would never say that lol. There were no "cheap" shops like Primark or H&M. You either paid top dollar for quality or went to a jumble sale. Not many of those about now. Perhaps we should bring them back, and support our schools and churches instead of the big charities. Who sets the prices in these shops? At our local oxfam, the books are almost the same price as Mr A

Butterfly_Brain

my daughter does volunteer work on a Saturday in a Charity shop and she says the manager just puts what she likes on the things, She has been told to get as much for an item as she can - now it as about to close because it is not profitable - I wonder why?

Trazy

The town near me is over run with charity shops but none of them are particularly inviting, and when I have ventured in they seem to be rather expensive.

Bitsy_Beans

My local high street is awash with nothing but supermarkets, banks and charity shops. It's a busy main road and could be a useful little shopping area. However due to high rents and the loss of Adams and Woolies there's hardly anything worth going up for.
And what are the council planning to rejuvenate the area? they've sold off parkland to yep, you guessed it Asda. We now have 5 major supermarkets in a 2 mile line and they thought that building a 6th one would change things.

I don't bother with the charity shops are they are just pricing themselves out of the market. If the prices are putting people of shopping there someone needs to re-think their pricing policy.