Charity Shopping - bargains galore for 2021!

Magpie100

Bogof_OAP said:

Wow you're so slim!  All your bargains look lovely, well done.

You’re very kind @Bogof_Babe. Xx

Magpie100

Oops. @Bogof_OAP!

DigForVictory

Ah, Miro, the pain of the one that got away Already! 

Sunshine & a modest spree in Colne, with a delightful haul - a Denby Calm jug which I recognised throughout the window of the shop (if Denby made Clangers?!), a Denby Energy teapot (2 pints! Lots of energy!) & Himself chortled as I missed a half dozen Denby Arabesque plates, so he bought them for me. He’s a wonder, [& very happy with the chisels I got him for our wedding anniversary.]

Happy hunting!

Magpie100

@goldfinches I think I need your email address and name for the referral if you want to message me? But understand if you would rather not! 

Glad you enjoyed the pictures... I always find this thread very inspiring - it’s fun to hear everyone’s bargains even if we’re looking for different things. 

I have learnt so much about clothing brands by charity shopping and found so many things I just wouldn’t be able to afford new. People Tree (makers of the dress) are a case in point. I also have a secondhand jacket by them which is lovely. All organic cotton. 

Happy hunting! M100

C_J

goldfinches said:

There are quite a few places within possible cycling distance from here so if anyone can comment on the chazzas in Abingdon, Kidlington, Didcot, Bicester, Woodstock, Eynsham, Witney, Thame or anywhere else between those towns and central Oxford I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Abingdon : there are the usual suspects (British Heart Foundation, CRUK etc) in the small shopping centre, an Oxfam on East St Helen's Street and a Sue Ryder plus Helen & Douglas House on the Market Place and an Action for Children in Conflict in Bath Street.  I have never found them to be particularly magical to be honest.

Kidlington : Not much here - a Sobell House in the Kidlington Centre (tiniest shopping centre in the world, only about four shops!), a Blue Cross (which is generally quite good) and a British Red Cross on the High Street. The Sue Ryder shop has closed down.

Bicester: I was there on Saturday and was surprised by how many of the charity shops seemed to have closed down (permanently it would seem). There are quite a few concentrated in the central pedestrianised Market Street, a couple in the Market Square, and one tucked away down a side alley beside Wilkinsons. A good one is the Sobell House charity superstore warehouse located just outside the town on the Launton Business Park on Murdoch Road. It's hidden behind the Royal Mail sorting office. It is good for books, vinyl records, DVDs, kitchenalia, sports stuff such as tennis racquets and golf clubs, electricals (everything from hair dryers and lamps through to freezers and dishwashers), curtains and furniture. They do have clothes but I've always found their offerings a bit strange. However when I was there yesterday the shelves were quite bare, and the shop assistant said they have not been receiving donations because people are choosing to sell the things they would normally donate to charity at car boots instead.

Speaking of which, the first car boot sale of the year in Blackthorn near Bicester is on Sunday 2nd May.

Within the Oxford ring road, Headington is your best bet as it is filled with chazzas along the London Road and a few down Windmill Road. Have a look at it on Google Street View! Every other shop is a chazza.

Central Oxford doesn't really have chazzas, although there is an Oxfam bookshop in St Giles, a Sobell shop in Little Clarendon Street, and the Mind shop on Walton Street can be extremely good. I think there is a brand new Sobell House shop due to open on the parade of shops on Cherwell Drive in Marston which looks interesting.

The Summertown area of Oxford (down the Banbury Road, heading out of the City) has a few shops, including a good Animal Sanctuary one and an excellent Scope which has a special vintage section.

The large Oxfam superstore in Cowley (on the Business Park opposite the car works on the ring road) is worth a visit but it has odd opening times so best to check online first. Oxfam can be pricey, but they do have nice things there.

There are a few chazzas at Templar's Square, the shopping centre in Cowley but the stock always seem quite low-end in these.

There is a good Helen & Douglas House store (incl furniture) at Rose Hill (the top of the Iffley Road, near the ring road end) which is worth a mention. It doesn't look anything special, but I have repeatedly picked up some really good (and unusual) bargains from there.

goldfinches

@Magpie100 and anyone else that is confused, my last two posts have been removed from this board because I'd inadvertently contravened the forum rules about not benefiting oneself which I'd entirely forgotten would apply so mea culpa.

I'd cross posted in the Surveys board here Surveys — MoneySavingExpert Forum for those who'd like to read all about it.

Here's some of what I also said earlier reconstructed.

@Magpie100  thankyou for the lovely photos, all your bargains look terrific as do your legs as well as the rest of you too so no apologies are necessary. The jacket even has the sort of breast pocket I use to keep my spare mask in when I'm outside my front door nowadays so I'll keep an eye open for that brand.

I'd completely forgotten about your insta page which I'd added to my favourites over a year ago so it was good to have my memory refreshed.  

And here's what I did earlier today.

I called at my favourite BHF shop this morning on the way to the library and found a hardback copy of Kitchen by Nigella Lawson for £4.50 which I snapped up and thought very good value for 500+ pages with colour photography. It's in suspiciously good condition, the ribbon bookmark looks as though it's never been moved from where it was when the book was new and the spine is still very stiff. 

I think that's everything bar grovelling apologies for messing up my previous posts possibly due to the current bout of insomnia, goldfinches.

Miró

A pleasurable gallop around the eight chazza shops in Ripon today.  Came away with the ideal plain, white pottery vase I have been looking for, £2.99.  Then found a very pretty Phase Eight dress, fitted in shades of pink and plum flowers on a cream background. bit pricy at £10 but I loved it too much to leave it.  Just unpicked the hem and washed it in the hope that I can lengthen it slightly without the tell tale 'line' showing where the original hem was.  If it doesn't work I will put the hem back to where it was.....think I can just about get away with it not quite covering the old kneecaps

goldfinches

@C_J thankyou for that, very interesting and informative.

You didn't mention  two central Oxford chazzas that I find very good value; British Heart Foundation in St Ebbe's which is very good for clothes, cds, dvds, books and household items and Age UK in St Clements very near the Plain which is good for clothes, shoes, toys and household items. 

Don't forget the original Oxfam shop on Broad Street although I find it quite expensive and with mostly new stock from their catalogue nowadays.

There is also a Barnardo's opposite the big Tesco on the Cowley Rd which I haven't visited yet this year but used to be good for kitchenalia and handicrafts. 
Sadly the Helen and Douglas house shop almost next door to the Barnardo's says temporarily closed on its website and there was an Age Concern a bit further along the road which closed during the first lockdown last year. 

Your mention of Headington reminds me that there is Richard Ford's junkshop/house clearance warehouse on Windmill road and in Summertown I have found that going upstairs in the Oxfam shop can be fruitful because so few other customers bother.

I think I'll try to pedal out to Rose Hill and across the University Parks to Marston as soon as I feel a little less wobbly and thankyou again for the info, goldfinches.

I don't think I'll brave the car boot although I'm very sad that I never got to the Nettlebed sales before they ended and that another venue couldn't be found for them to carry on.

C_J

I forgot about the BHF in St Ebbe’s - I haven’t been into Oxford for so long, and I wasn’t entirely sure if the shop still existed, or had been swept away in the Westgate redevelopment!

I miss Nettlebed so much

goldfinches

C_J said:

I forgot about the BHF in St Ebbe’s - I haven’t been into Oxford for so long, and I wasn’t entirely sure if the shop still existed, or had been swept away in the Westgate redevelopment!

I miss Nettlebed so much

It is a pity. Maybe they'll find somewhere else in the next couple of years or so, you never know.

I'd forgotten that I'll be passing the Barnardo's on the Cowley road tomorrow and hopefully will have half an hour to spend browsing, I'll let you know if I find any bargains.