Great charity shop bargain

BlueBelle

Today in the charity shop I volunteer in we found 10 empty hangers in the same age range in the boys section ( probably £20+ )
This is so so disappointing and upsetting We had a similar thing happen yesterday

I mean what sort of person stoops so low as to steal from charity shops 😢
But I know that they do, having worked in the charity retail for 10plus years before retirement, labels changed , haggling .

essjay
The charity shop where I volunteer is for local children. Nobody is paid, not even the manager.

we have a few charity shops in our small town, but i tend to use the one that puts the money raised back into the community, they sell jigsaws for a pound whereas the others sell them for a much higher price. I tend to buy at lease 5 every time i go and i also donate goods to them. I use them all to buy games etc for when my grandchildren are at mine and most of the toys when they were younger

AreWeThereYet
That was one of the reasons my friend ( she was the manager) left one our local hospices. Plus the daily telephone calls telling her she hadn’t reached her target and that target wasn’t for the close of business, that was through the day.
Then there would be the phone calls telling her they didn’t like/ it’s in the wrong place displays. They were watching on the cameras.

We have a Hospice charity shop nearby that I used to visit once a week and bought quite a few things from to upcycle. They changed to selling things that had already been upcycled and stopped selling anything that was a bit shabby so I no longer go. I used to love rummaging amongst all the bits and pieces looking for mirrors, frames, small tables, lamps, lampshades, curtains, pictures and other bits but now they are not only quite pricey because they only sell 'good' stuff they don't have anything to rummage through.

There is a shopping center near where I live with about 8 charity shops. I used to love browsing round them when I did the post office run. I bought some lovely vintage garments for the fabric and lots of things t resell in my Ebay shop. Unfortunately Im no longer mobile enough to troll around the shops and Royal Mail pick up direct from my home now.

Me too. The chance of getting a bargain is the main reason most people use them, unless they really can't afford to pay full price for anything, in which case the point is still to save money. If there were some rule that said that things should be sold at usual retail price (or that there is something morally wrong with getting something very cheaply) they would cease to exist.

Lulu16

I support charity shops because I believe in extending the use of products. My best buys were an Orly Kiely bedspread, new baby clothes, pinking shears, books and an M&S coat.
However now I donate good stuff to charity shops as a way to return the favour for my bargains. Not only will someone enjoy giving it a new life, but it benefits the charity too.

Same here.
I love a good old rummage round a charity shop and have had some good buys over the years.

I support charity shops because I believe in extending the use of products. My best buys were an Orly Kiely bedspread, new baby clothes, pinking shears, books and an M&S coat.
However now I donate good stuff to charity shops as a way to return the favour for my bargains. Not only will someone enjoy giving it a new life, but it benefits the charity too.

I picked up a little wooden squirrel for 99p. I discovered it on Etsy for £12. Quite a bargain!

I have some expertise in a certain type of item and get asked to price relevant donations for one of our local charity shops. It saves them charging, say, £5 when £50 is more realistic.

I love a bargain and bought some perfectly fitting linen trousers in excellent condition last week for £5.00. I like getting jigsaws too, we make them and return them.

BlueBelle

Today in the charity shop I volunteer in we found 10 empty hangers in the same age range in the boys section ( probably £20+ )
This is so so disappointing and upsetting We had a similar thing happen yesterday

Charity shop I visited in London had the pricier clothes, such as leather jackets, chained up. Sad sign of the times.

knspol

I have started donating some of late DH's clothes to charity shops quite a few of them have never been worn, still have labels on and all are good makes. I just hope the shop workers don't keep them for themselves or if they do then they make a suitable donation. After hearing from 2 friends who worked in different shops it seems items are often picked over by helpers and taken home for relatives or friends sometimes without even a donation having been made. Unfortunately I didn't know where else I could take them and did not want the hassle of ebay etc

In the shop where I volunteer, staff can’t help themselves to stuff. We have to buy it . And it has to be on the shop floor for 24 hours , before we can buy. Unless it’s damaged or has marks , then we can have it but we normally put a few quid in the charity box.

There are some fabulous bargains for babies. A lot of people buy first size for newborns and they don’t get worn. I’ve seen brand new baby grows, hats, bootees, blankets etc for pence.

Today I saw a black trendy pram that had all rain covers and lift out baby carry chair in immaculate condition for £30. I imagine it would have cost several hundred £.

My DIL bought a broken Vivienne Westwood bag for £10 . The man behind the counter handed her another bag and said that’s broken. She explained what it was and that I would mend it . I did fix it and she uses it a lot. That would have gone to scrap as it was broken. My zip mending skills helped. She could never have afforded a designer bag , this gave her the opportunity to own one .

I love charity shops and have had many bargains. Many of my books are from charity shops and quite a lot of our furniture. I have always said that if you were setting up home with a small budget, then charity shops are the best place to buy it as it is often much better quality than cheap new items. I have bought lots of other things in charity shops, including clothes, although a lot of my clothes come from eBay. Two of the best bargains I ever bought were when my daughter was small. The first was a summer party dress for £1. It was lacking a sash and I bought a matching length of ribbon from our local haberdashery shop for another pound. The second bargain was a pair of brand new sequinned Gap jeans for the princely sum of 50p. She wore and wore them and when she outgrew them they were still in very good condition so that l was able to pass them on to a younger child.

It always amazes me what people donate to charity shops, whether good or bad. I always try to ensure that my donations are in the condition that I would like to buy them. I donate older, more worn items for rags as I know that they can still bring in money for the charity. I put them in a separate bag and mark the bags accordingly. I have a friend who is a hoarder and does not believe in housework. One time, she gave me a carrier bag full of clothes that had belonged to her and her daughters to take to my local charity shop. They were creased and obviously not clean. She told me that it didn’t matter what condition they were in as they could clean them at the shop! I knew they this was not the case - what a cheek - but I could also see that the clothes were good quality and would sell easily so l washed and ironed them myself. My daughter, who was a teenager at the time, thought I was crazy but I knew that the shop would get quite a lot of money for them so felt it was worth the time and effort.

Knspol definitely not allowed in out charity shop

We buy any good at the price on the ticket but with a small discount and only the boss or deputy can serve us
We certainly don’t ‘pick over’ the items

Only on Friday picked up a bargain in a charity shop. Have been looking for a light beach cover-up for 12 year old GD. Only thing in stores for her age were like ponchos, not stylish enough for wearing at meal times. Spotted a blue and white sleeveless long top in a size 8 lovely light pure cotton. Thought would need a little adjustment at armholes but at £3.99 worth the work. Didn't look at label other than material. Took it to give it a wash and spotted the Jaeger label. Wished there had been in my size.

Nannynoodles

Bluebelle ours is the same, we have been loosing more and more stock recently. It’s so so sad because we are mainly volunteers and don’t have security guards obviously so I suppose it’s easier to steal from us although we do our best.
I challenged one shoplifter the other week and got a mouthful of abusive, actually quite frightening. If I though they really couldn’t afford the clothes and needed them I would have some sympathy but I really don’t think this is the case.

I volunteered in a charity shop for 14 years. We regularly had a Big Issue Seller who used to come in, try jeans and jackets on and just walk out in them, leaving his wet stuff in the changing room. He was Romanian and said he hardly spoke English so none of us wanted to confront him. The Manager said she was annoyed because if he just came and asked for some clothes she would have given them to him if he was that desperate.

NotSpaghetti and Callistemon21, agree with you both in principle.However, last year I pointed out to the manager of a local charity shop that a quality Victorian ceramic item it had on sale for £2 was in fact probably worth around £500. ( I am not exactly an expert, but have taken an interest in these particular items over a number of decades, and did some careful double checking before I said anything).Manager replied, thank you, would take it off the shelf, speak to HQ and get it properly valued.

Nothing happened except that later that day when I called in the price had been put up to £10.The following day it had disappeared and I was informed by one of the volunteers that it had been sold for this amount.
Next time, I shan't feel like being quite so helpful...

Got a glass topped patio table from the council dump the other day. 30 Quid! Cleaned up like new. Perfik!

I always start off in the charity shops unless I am looking for underwear or nightwear.

To me this makes sense both financially and evironmentally.

And I agree you can get some marvellous bargins.

Bluebelle. A couple of well placed mirrors above the doorway might help. Also now staff know can’t you all keep e keener eye open.

I really think it depends on the town / city the shop is situated in. London,Leeds,Sheffield, any big affluent town. Wells and Ludlow aresupposed to be very good for charity shops. However, sadly,parts of Wales, Scotland Bradford ,and in the small depressed towns any good bargains are few and far between. They need our custom probably more than the affluent areas.

My son has a vintage clothing shop and has an eye for bargains. He is quite an expert on vintage band t-shirts - self taught - he recently bought a ‘Cocteau Twins’ T for £4 and knew it was valuable and sold it for £280. No need to feel guilty. The shop should know the value of what they’re selling. Also even if they did know it’s full value no one would buy a T in a charity shop for £280. There’s a charity shop he goes to and the manager saves him things he might be interested in. He bought 100 T’s for £300 and they’re valued at around £4800. I think it’s fantastic that a young entrepreneur (he’s still a teenager) is forward thinking and is helping to stop cheap throwaway clothes being made.