Charity shops

rushnowt

The best way of all to get the best and cheapest clobber from a charity shop is to volunteer to help out, I offered my services a couple of time a week a while ago and enjoyed it so much was nearly doing a full week, I was there that much, I was offered the job of assistant manager, unfortunately family and circumstances etc wouldn't allow me to do it.

But you get the chance to pick up stuff as soon as it comes in plus ya get a staff discount and it's next to nowt anyway. Deliveries of new stuff are everyday and they tend to get anything nice out straight away, rails are replenished daily and any stock that has not been sold within 10-14 days gets removed, reduced if its good stuff and sent to the rag collection if not.

Some charity shops get brand new stuff from sports shops, shoe shops etc end of line stock clearance lines kind of thing and some slight seconds, we had some Cat boots in once all sizes for a £5 apair but they went quickly.

The best places to go are the bigger major city stores but you can also get some nice stuff from the smaller ones to.

So volunteer a day or two if you've got the time, its only for a couple of hours, your helping out a charity and getting some great bargains in the process

p.s forgot to add, the prices are rising in charity shops because the nod as come from above to raise revenue staff are just as frustrated and fed up about this as the rest of us

lyniced

I thought that wasn't allowed? Well at least it isn't at my Mother's charity shop. She can't get her hands on anything until it goes on the rails. She said it's quite annoying when you see something really lovely come in and watch it go from bag to steam room to rails and you can't get to it. Apparently she can't buy anything until the end of the day - seems different shops have different rules.

rushnowt

lyniced wrote:

I thought that wasn't allowed? Well at least it isn't at my Mother's charity shop. She can't get her hands on anything until it goes on the rails. She said it's quite annoying when you see something really lovely come in and watch it go from bag to steam room to rails and you can't get to it. Apparently she can't buy anything until the end of the day - seems different shops have different rules.

I can't beleive that, which shop does she work for ? I've never heard anything like that before, I know loads of volunteers and theyre all able to purchase before it goes on the rails, perhaps its the manager of the shop thats asserting their power to much

THIRZAH

We certainly didn't get discount when I worked in a charity shop and we weren't supposed to purchase items until they were put out in the shop- but not everyone observed that rule.

lyniced

I don't think I can say which charity shop it is, but also they don't get discounts either. They have to pay full price even though they are volunteers.

jellyhead

when i was working for one we couldn't have anything that wasn't on the rails, and we didn't get discount. it had to be written down every time we bought something too, i don't know why.

THIRZAH

We also had to enter all purchases in a book with the receipt number and get someone else to sign it . It was to prove that we had paid for the items.

kaznelson

My local town has lots of charity shops and Ive got some fantastic bargains. My teenie daughter loves her labels so I nip into the Charity shops and buy them at a fraction of the price, Elle, Morgan, Goldigger. She wont come in with me and complains about the smell!!!

The local childrens hospice shop is the best and for an excellent cause.

We also have a charity furniture shop where I recently got a two seater sofa & armchair for £170. Its from Laura Ashley in First Class condition and retails for over £2000. Bargain

borntoshop

My bugbear with charity shops, saying this I adore going into them, is when they charge more than you know the goods are originally.
Oxfam were selling large Sainsbury's pate dishes for £2.99 when they had originally been in Sainsbury's for 70p. I know that its a charity but to oversell stuff and charge for free CD's that come with the papers is not right. A manager of a local shop gives away the things that were originally free gifts, she said it clearly states not for sale on these.
I tend to go to the shops where I know the money is getting used wisely as well, no fat percentages to the charity bosses and huge administration costs!
Back on topic, I have had some real good finds in shops, top name clothes, bestsellers, and great variety.

jellyhead

our PDSA shop gives the mag freebies away, they have a 'free' sticker' as they can't be resold. usually though you'd buy something too, you wouldn't just take a stack of free books

mind you the PDSA shop sells kids t-shirts from places like ethel austin, asda, peacocks at more than the selling price would be for a new one. maybe the person doing the pricing just doesn't realise how cheap these shops are?