Shop Charity in '23!

yorkie_cook

Cherryfudge said:

I found a gorgeous blue jumper today for £3.75 in Sue Ryder. The make is given as Zeeox and I can't find anything about them, but I love it so that's all right.

One charity shop I went into, I overheard an assistant saying how overwhelmed they were with donations locally, and in another they were literally having to bin things. I asked what was the matter (thinking broken etc?) but it was simply about space and saleability - so if you live near me and are looking for items for young children, send me a pm and I'll let you know where. The staff member I spoke to said I could have them if I wanted but it wasn't stuff I could use.

It always baffles me why when they have surplus of donations they don't prices things lower & get stock turning over. Near where I lived there used to be clearance charity shop, it was always busy & it was rare if you went in frequently you saw the same stock, which I can't say for another local chazza which I can go weeks between visits & they still have the same overpriced items. The clearance place possibly had a lower quality threshold, but I used to get some good bargains unfortunately it has since shut

Pollycat

I've posted a few times about charity shop prices.

I was once in a Barnados and the manager refused a suitcase full of books because 'they had too many'.
I can see no sense in refusing donations of books 'because they're not selling' when you've priced novels by authors such as John Grisham, Dan Brown etc at £1.99 and another charity shop less than 50 feet away are selling similar books for 50p or 75p.
How is that good business sense?
How does that help the charity?

This shop would have room to have a table of books priced at 50p each or 3 for £1.00 and it might encourage someone to pop in the shop and buy something else.

A £1.00 rail would bring people in.
And save things from being 'binned'.

I think it's the higher management who set targets for shops without understanding the area who are at fault.

Cherryfudge

The shop where they were having to bin things is genuinely small and has limited storage. In the summer they put tables of cheap goods outside which brings trade in.

I noticed the bin had a bike helmet, so I'm guessing they can't sell things like that for safety reasons. I've also heard that people literally empty house contents into a bag and donate that - so for instance staff found false teeth! To me that's just not acceptable.

Book donations are also a problem - shops get overwhelmed. (However there's a great Oxfam shop in York near Whip ma whop ma Gate which is a treasure trove of books - Oxfam specialise in second hand books and seem to know what they're doing). I agree on the book sales: stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap for me! Lots of people will then re-donate a book when they're finished, so the shop may benefit twice.

I'm sad about the current trend to make charity shops into boutiques -I love a rummagable shop, where no body's assuming they know what I want, and I can find something tucked away and feel it's made my day!

CAFCGirl

Cherryfudge said:

The shop where they were having to bin things is genuinely small and has limited storage. In the summer they put tables of cheap goods outside which brings trade in.

That identifies it nicely for me LOL
I love those outdoor tables and baskets of 50p items, and that shop in general - especially the back bit

I think with childrens items there's often a big cull after they get given new for Christmas so in their homes people make space for the new by getting rid of the old, but when everyone does it en masse its quite a challenge!

As for books, we visited one in Darlington last year and they have a blanket 5 books for £1! Sue Ryder locally (bar some of their special interest books like hardback recipe books etc) all seem to be £1 too including hardbacks.
I confess I much prefer blanket pricing strategies... CR, BHF all seem to start at £1.99-£2.49.
Then of course our local library often has a book sale going on and its by donation only!
The variation in pricing across the CS market seems incredibly odd to me.

Brie

One of the problem with donations these days is that some places need to log them all for sale and then slap a barcoded label on them as well.  That takes time and effort.  So much easier when you could just dump everything on a table with a big sign on top.  

Cherryfudge

I went to the St Theresa's Hospice shop in Leyburn today, and got a gift-quality hardback craft book for £4. Apparently they've just had a donation of a number of craft books, if anyone's interested.

There used to be another charity shop in Leyburn but I think it's closed. A shame because it was really interesting.

DigForVictory

The Maundy charity shops in Accrington were wonderful - one had stuff sort of sorted (along with holy water & rosaries - one Christmas one son bought a (toy) hand grenade & a bottle of holy water at the same till) and another was a several tables heaped to rummage, and if you found one item of infant clothing in the size you wanted, you kept digging as they rarely charged you more than a pound no matter How Much you were holding. (Himself wasn't wholly convinced the chap taking money was numerate, but it was busy!) Shrewdly the steps up & table positions meant you couldn't really get a pushchair in, so you'd leave the young 'un with a relative & dive in & rummage, hand over a coin, emerge & change ends. The lads were a bit daunted, but when they realised the bookcase had books roughly by age pretty much by height, they'd dive in & haul handfuls of Harry or Artmeis Fowl or whomever was top of their pops (& available) down & again hand over a coin & bounce out. I think that Maundy shop stayed open on those with terribly little bringing five or ten pence in pretty much daily. Covid did for it, alas.

Round my way, barcodes mean gift aid - otherwise the books aren't tagged at all but put out & sold on! A bit like a library but you pay your 'fine' in advance...

Cherryfudge

While on the subject of charity shop books, my bugbear is when fiction isn't arranged alphabetically by author. I can't be bothered looking through dozens that don't interest me in the hope of one that does.

Does it bother others, or are you more adaptable than I am?  

Brie

Cherryfudge said:

While on the subject of charity shop books, my bugbear is when fiction isn't arranged alphabetically by author. I can't be bothered looking through dozens that don't interest me in the hope of one that does.

Does it bother others, or are you more adaptable than I am?  

Everything should be alphabetised after being put into sections.  Cookbooks on one shelf, fiction on another, non fiction on another even if by the same author of fiction, etc etc.   Then again - that's how we have our books at home.  Oh and in chronological order too please!!!!

OH's biggest harrumph is that the LPs are always on the bottom shelf which as he always points out is impossible for vinyl collectors of a certain age (& girth).  

YoungBlueEyes

Cherryfudge said:

While on the subject of charity shop books, my bugbear is when fiction isn't arranged alphabetically by author. I can't be bothered looking through dozens that don't interest me in the hope of one that does.

Does it bother others, or are you more adaptable than I am?  

Oh my god. This ^ THIS ^^^!!!

I also don’t look through if they’ve just slung books into shelves. I’ve no doubt missed bargains but I’m ok with that because messed up shelves make my brain itch 🫣

I’d actually offer to organise and sort them for free if I thought I wouldn’t get stared/laughed at as some sort of OCD freak with nothing better to do…. 🤪

Oh and that goes for dvds and cds too. Just no.