Charity shop workers - please share your tips

sarahj1986

weenancyinAmerica said:

When I was traveling to the British Isles (haven't since 2005 - but over twenty visits before that), I did all my shopping for books and souvenirs in the charity shops, jumble sales, or in the bookstores to see what was attached to the magazines! We don't have things attached to magazines here, but I got some tremendous presents for people that way as well as my favorite diary. These are what I want to travel again for - that and visiting the public libraries (who often have good book sale areas). I did go to the department stores when I visited but usually just to eat in the cafeterias and to see what was popular though seldom bought anything. At that time I could find every charity shop in some of the towns I visited the most. Coleraine and Ayr each had 13 charity shops at the time and I made it to all of them. When I dream about traveling, that is what I dream about - visiting the charity shops, for some reason Stratford upon Avon and Belfast most often. 

I live in Stratford Upon Avon. I find our charity shops expensive here but we do have a good range to choose from. We visit them often, mainly for my daughter. She likes books and puzzles and to be fair, they are often cheap in charity shops. Clothing I think can be expensive. 

weenancyinAmerica

@sarahj1986 Lucky you. On one of my trips to Stratford with three friends, we were transferred to a bus to get there as the train was needed for a run to Birmingham. The bus driver did a great job through Warwick but when he got to Stratford, he ran into the corner of the train station roof! We ended up at the hospital in Warwick for awhile, then were interviewed by the police at our bed and breakfast, and when we went back to Doncaster, ended up getting a solicitor who took our case. Turned out the driver was drunk and lost his job. We received enough to cover our medical bills and make a trip back to England. The train station installed those poles in front of the station - I used to think they should have our names on them in our honor. The bus raised the roof on the train station. It was written up in the paper. The next time I went back with my parents in tow, we ended up having the taxi driver who had come on the bus to help us during the accident. He told us the bus driver had lost his job and the poles had been put in - he recognized me from the previous trip. And I still loved visiting there and came several more times after that. 

kimwp

Not a CSW, but I've had the most success with going frequently with the attitude of only buying needed or wanted-but-absolutely-perfect items. There's a need to come back with something (hunter-gatherer instinct?); being happy to walk away with nothing means that you keep your money and space for the really good stuff.

retiredinfrance

Delighted to see the mention of my local town, Coleraine, WeeNancy. Yes, indeed there are or were 13 Charity shops , although I was only a regular at a couple. I used to do the supermarkets on Saturday morning and then do into the centre and go hunting. My books were, like yours only from the Charity shops, the Library and library sales. Part of the reason for so many is that the local area is quite affluent and there are a lot of second homes locally. Oh the memories of the books I got, some of which are here with me in France. 

Big hugs and look after yourself.

Rosa_Damascena

MSE_Laura_F said:

Thank you so much to everyone who's shared tips for donating or buying at charity shops.

A great point from @luvchocolate about unsellable items being dumped outside charity shops and later having to be tipped.  Worth keeping in mind for anyone who's doing a post-Christmas clear-out and is headed to their local chazza shop.

The main thing I buy from charity shops is books - I have a mental wishlist of all the books and authors I'm interested in and do a quick scan of the shelves. I've had success at least once from asking if there are books by specific authors in the stock room.

If I'm passing through a posher area than the one I live in, I like to visit a charity shop to see if there are different sorts of things to my locals' fare.

Me too - but the mental wish list is tagged in P'Interest and reviewed periodically so I am more attuned to finding what is on there. My home libraries (for the haul is spilt between rooms now) have over 1,000 books, one to satisfy every mood and inclination.

rancid-a

Hello everyone. I stumbled into this charity shop thread and started to think about what I found in my late Mum's bedroom closet.

Vinyl LPs albums. a box full. Do you think the majority of charity shops would take these? I have no interest in keeping them (although I'm tempted to hold on to the album by Boney M which I myself remember buying 40+ years ago). Rolling Stones, The Pretenders, Shirley Bassey - I think some of these may have been my Dads. It would be a shame to throw them all.

luvchocolate

Definitely take to charity shop some are quite valuable and will be researched to get the best price...sometimes on a auction site. Thank you 

kimwp

rancid-a said:

Hello everyone. I stumbled into this charity shop thread and started to think about what I found in my late Mum's bedroom closet.

Vinyl LPs albums. a box full. Do you think the majority of charity shops would take these? I have no interest in keeping them (although I'm tempted to hold on to the album by Boney M which I myself remember buying 40+ years ago). Rolling Stones, The Pretenders, Shirley Bassey - I think some of these may have been my Dads. It would be a shame to throw them all.

Might be worth contacting the charities and seeing if they want to look at them rather than taking them to a random shop.

annieb64

A lot of Oxfam bookshops have a music section and they may well have a volunteer who specialises in music. We certainly did when I worked in  one and he was very keen on vinyl- nobody else was allowed to sort it.

halfamo

I have never worked in one but have always visited them over the last 40 or so years.
I have noticed distinct traits.
One will have great kids toys , another will have kids clothes but not really much in the way of adult clothing, one had a man who would go through all the boxes of puzzles and discover if a piece was missing, or for gadgets, would put them right so you always knew you wouldn't be buying a dud at that shop. Some shops will do electric items where others wont. If you know you will be in an area a long time (where you live or work for example) then visiting all of them more than once can give you a mental map of the right shop for the right items.
Same goes for pricing.. At one shop I saw the manager going through a  home shopping catalogue to decide the price of the items she was selling (catalogues often have silly prices). another shop would not sell any clothing at higher prices than the local primark because they said people will come in and if it is more expensive for charity shop clothing, they will just buy new at primark...
obviously it can all change if the managers change.