snobby charity shops

DH loves second hand books sellers, mostly the specialist charity book shops. He collects old technical and building books. X

And a 4th here- no need to go snobby- but charity shops should be clean and well-organised and the clothes and other stuff for sale in clean and in excellent condition. And yes, they are there to make money for the charities, not for us to get incredible bargains- totally agree there needs to be a balance too.

Now (and I know it annoys some, so apologies, lol)- here is the point of view of a furiner (who very much loves England). I'll always remember the first jumble sale I attended, with my landlady, at a school in Brentford. I just could not believe my eyes- there were 2 tables of worn underwear! (1970)

Later, when we moved to Staffs, I experienced my first 'Bring and buy' coffee morning. And again, I was hugely surprised, shocked even. My contribution was a jar of Nestlé Gold coffee- can't remember the exact figures, but let's say it was £2.75 and the host put if for sale at 1.50. She had become a good friend and neighbour so I asked why so cheap. Oh, she said, you've already paid for it, and it's for charity isn't it? And I replied 'yes, exactly'- next time I'll just give you the money, better for the charity. Her contribution was a magnificent and intricate baby matinée jacket- it had taken weeks to produce as it was such a complicated pattern, and the wool had cost her (again from top of head) say, £9.00. So she put it for sale for 3.50 and it was of course snapped up quickly. Again, I asked her why she hadn't at least asked for the cost of the wool- and again, she found my question strange! Why did you not save yourself hours and days of work and just put £9.00 in the kitty. Just not cricket, was the reply.

Very lucky in Market Harborough to have several good quality charity shops and one which we both find impossible to resist, a charity book shop.

It's not compulsory for charity shops to be scruffy and smelly, just because they are not 'snobby'. There are lots of nice ones in the middle range.

In our area there are two Red Cross shops. One of them got smartened up into the near-snobby category, a few years ago. The staff at the other one said they would leave if theirs was similarly treated, as it wouldn't suit the locality. So theirs got a refurb and got the stuff better organised, and that's all.

Regarding e baŷ; I put on my once worn Mother of groom outfit, at a very small amount, a fraction of the cost.

I wanted it to be worn on another happy occasion and possibly make the day for someone who would not have afforded it otherwise.

It sold to a lady who was very pleased and looked forward to wearing it.
The outfit did not survive the postal service and never arrived! We exchanged several e mails, all friendly, but could not trace it. Both of us felt sad and cheated.

In the end I wish I had donated it to a charity shop. x

Three of us! I like the charity shops that are bright and clean, and don't have that awful musty old clothes smell. Charities need to make money, and that means marketing and attracting customers.

It's easy to get rid of old garments that are not suitable for resale, as others have said, via the assorted bins provided by councils.

Good point about EBay, Soutra! I really couldn't be bothered selling things for pennies.

Do jumble sales still exist? Haven't seen or heard of one for ages. There was that smell there too - the not quite clean smell..

That makes 2of us then Leticia. I am surprised nobody has mentioned EBay in this context. I wonder if it has had an impact on the volume of "good" stuff taken to charity shops? I have more than once been advised to "put something on EBay" but a) CBA, b) really don't know how to go about it and c) would rather my charity of choice benefited from the proceeds.
Oh, and not necessarily in that order!

I am going to buck the trend on this thread. I hate scruffy charity shops and hate searching through things. I like ones that have space and think that colour coordination and a well dressed window is a great idea. Maybe I am just lucky in that we have good ones, I have never come across unfriendly volunteers and they have always been very pleased with my bags and they haven't opened them. I don't want to buy scruffy books.
I will agree that they could sell a bit cheaper and go for the quick turnover, but having said that I have got some real bargains.

I would have thought anyone managing a charity shop would have wanted a constant turn over of goods. There is little point having stock if it is overpriced and does not sell.
Unlike a conventional retail outlet, they do not buy the stock so everything is sold at profit.

I do appreciate that they have overheads, but once something is secondhand, unless an antique or fine jewellry, it is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, as we all know when trying to sell a second hand car! x

Sunseeker. There are some women who have to flee their homes with only the one pair of knickers they are wearing( and obviously other clothing) They are grateful for anything they are given.

I always browse charity shops, as others say you can get some good bargains if you keep your eyes peeled.

When my kids were small there were more jumble sales and I used to get some great stuff, particularly kids clothes which rarely get worn out.

My DD also looks round charity shops as does my OH who has recently bought some very good shirts and a traditional style man's cap which surprisingly really suits him.

I do find some 'chazzers' have gone up market and even over the top. There is one in Edinburgh where very little is priced under £20 (it has been got-at by Ms. Portas) and is invariably empty of customers when I have been there. I take my donations to either the local children's hospice charity shop or to Shelter. The Shelter shop is in quite a disadvantage area and they are always very grateful for donations and sell them for a very reasonable price geared no doubt to the local residents. I have bought some real bargains from the Hospice shop where the goods are better quality and priced accordingly. My best acquisitions are a soft Italian leather coat - brand new for £10 and a pair of new Per Una shorts for £2.50 which I am making good use of here in Oz. My DD only uses charity shops and has some amazing outfits for both her and the children. Long may they continue.

I volunteer for a charity shop which supports a local childrens hospice. It is very well run by a not very well paid manageress who goes to great lengths to keep her volunteers happy.

One of the things that really shocked me is that there are shop lifters who steal from such a charity. If we get anything really good in we have to guard it!

Most of the volunteers are retired nurses or midwives and it is a very friendly shop. I chatted to an old lady one afternoon and after a while she said 'thank you for talking to me' and gave me a donation of £5. I felt really sad for her. She must have been lonely.

We get some well off customers who are really good at picking out the good stuff and are delighted with their bargains. It is a hobby for many people.

I don't see why people are blaming Mary Portas for trying to drag some charity shops into the 21st century.
Grouping clothes by colour as well as size helps you to see what is on offer
Making charity shops an attractive place to shop increases footfall therefore profit
Pricing things realistically makes sense -it is heartbreaking to donate a new or nearly new garment which may have cost £50 or much more and see it go for 50p-better to donate the money in the first place.
We all know that we live in a spendthrift society, many people have no idea how to mend clothes/sew on a button/let out a seam/replace a zip , so get rid of an item rather than attempt to mend it. Many young girls will buy something to wear for Saturday night then tire of it and throw it out. So why should charities not benefit by the customer paying a realistic price? It is still a bargain.
So OP, YABU , in my opinion, if by "snobby " you mean bright, well presented, selling quality garments at a heavily discounted, but realistic price. There is a reason they are called charity shops, and that is to raise money for the charity in question, not sell a load of tat for a niggardly amount.

I used to love browsing around charity shops. Now many have been cleaned up and turned into fashion boutiques. I blame Mary Portas, she started all this with a tv programme she made. She took the heart out the shops. She didn't want toys and books to be sold, and only high end clothes were for sale. Recently hubby bought an M&S wool sweater in the British Heart Foundation shop for £5.99. When he tried it on at home we noticed it had a tear in the sleeve about 6 inches long. It had been roughly sewn up, and I mean rough! He didn't take it back, just decided never to shop there again. I know of a few small charity shops that sell quirky items, like vintage knitting patterns and yarn. These are the shops I still love.

I know the rents for retail premises are high, but is it really justifiable for a charity to be paying £55,000 p.a. for an outlet to sell second-hand clothes?

No wonder the prices they're charging are increasing! And as you say, Knowsley, managers are usually paid.

There are a lot of charity shops going out of business. The charities are usually national ones but each regional division of the charity has to be self supporting.

With central government cuts to local government, the local councils have cut back the grants they issue to local charities, as well as that, local businesses are feeling the pinch and so they aren't supporting local charities either.

Charity shops have become the main source of income for many local charities. The councils have doubled their rents in many places, and increased the business rates. Add this to increased utility bills, telephone and insurance charges and you can begin to see the reason for increased prices in the shops. The usual shop set-up has one paid manager or manageress and a number of unpaid volunteers.

Perhaps we Gransnetters could be more charitable to them.

POGS, you're quite right about the charity (and other) shops which leave their doors open in the cold, with the heat blasting out. If I'm in a bolshy mood, I go in to tell them that I wouldn't shop there while they keep the doors open, as any money I spent would just be wasted in heating the street. It can't be just a head office thing; I know of 2 British Heart Foundation shops, one with the doors open and the other with them closed - perhaps that one is staffed by more intelligent people!

Have you come across the Close the Door campaign to get this stupid habit stopped? www.closethedoor.org.uk

Deeda

We have an Age UK shop locally where the prices are very reasonable and the people who work there are very nice and seem pleased with anything I take in there.

When my mother died we took boxes and boxes of books and ornaments to a charity shop. The staff seemed quite overcome and kept saying "Oh you shouldn't have" looking back now I suspect they probably meant "NO! You SHOULDN'T have!"

Our local supermarket has bins in the car park for you to leave clothes and shoes for two local charities. The bin men will take those that are worse for wear to be recycled. Any other stuff I save until a collection from a bona fide local charity comes to collect.
That way I never have to run the gamut of the shop people.

I volunteer in a charity shop. They are run as businesses with constant targets to be met and they compete with all the others in the same locality. All are short of volunteers. Cancer Research is about to open our eighth charity shop (there were four a year ago) in a prime position and paying £55000 yearly for rent. Charities only pay 20% of the business rates and are grabbing every shop which closes, denying independent traders a look-in.
This is a town very dependent on tourism but who will come to another town full of charity shops?

My DS1 and DiL decided to buy 'vintage' furniture for their Edwardian house and found their nearby Sue Ryder shop a wonderful source. If I wanted or had room for a really nice tea set, there's one charity shop here where I would be sure to find something good - it always looks like (and probably is) somebody's rarely used wedding china from the 30s or 40s.

Most of the 'tat' goes into the garage to be used for oily rags.

However, I took a very large bagful of clean old stuff that probably wouldn't go out on the shop floor to our Red Cross shop because they get money from the ragman for it. I labelled the bag as suitable for that purpose only.

Didn't thing change after Mary Portos did those programmes supposedly bringing charity shops into the 21st century?

I prefer to give to smaller local charities. We cleared the garage out recently and donated things that we no longer needed, some boxed and forgotten years ago.

I was very pleased to see the prices put on them by the charity shop and even more pleased to see that everything had gone, a couple of days later. x

I always take paperbacks, clothes, etc, to Oxfam or Scope - they have never said they don't want older titles. I do think Oxfam bookshops started to charge rather a lot but I've noticed recently that the prices seem to have gone down - maybe because people can get cheap second hand books from Amazon.

Apparently some people send some awful old tat to charity shops - things that are only fit for the rubbish bin. It can't be a very nice job to sort through dirty, smelly clothes.