Why do charity shops...

depends on the shop staff / manager, its always worth an ask then they can always say sorry not for sale etc

We keep what we can, but have limited space to store christmas stock so only keep the best things - brand new still boxed candles, or gift sets, china, upmarket decorations. We just dont have space to store loads of supermarket plastic baubles and similar. We do see a peak of christmas decorations through the first week in January and again end of November /beginning of December when people get everything out and decide what they don't want any more.

I'd have assumed that people would buy them early and then store them in their homes.

Charity shops are frequently the place for a great bargain, but surely everybody knows that you either buy what they have in now or you miss out; it's not Amazon with endlessly-replenished shelves of the exact item you're looking for, at exactly the most convenient time for you.

It does seem a little unrealistic to expect a charity shop to have a full range of your preferred Christmas decorations in, for a bargain price, in December.

In our shop some of the display items are not donated goods, they belong to one of the volunteers. We have two large windows and regularly changing displays, and we also have very limited storage space for keeping decoration. So a big wedding themed window, or Rembrance Day window, or Jubilee window or something is planned and volunteers bring in items to supplement what we have to sell.

@mathanxiety "Do people not donate old baubles and decs in January?"

I see your point here but I tried to do this once and the shop said they did not have enough room to store them until next year. Which is fair enough. I suppose I was hoping they would store them instead of me ( small house , little storage ) bit shame on me - Other bigger Charity shops may be different 😊

They used to have a regular sketch on CBBC's Saturday Mash-up featuring an often-absent shopkeeper and his woefully incompetent nephew left to run their shop called 'We Sell Stuff'.

On one episode, they had a sale to shift some stock and put up signs saying 'EVERYTHING is £1'.

As well as people arguing the toss between whether it meant every item was £1 each or the entire lot was £1 in total, they had one girl who came along - making no bones about the fact she was a CF (not using that exact phrase!) - and insisted on buying the till, including all of its contents, for just a quid!

Imagine my incredulity at not being allowed to purchase the chair behind the cash desk at my local hospice shop! Outrageous!

🙄

People will still go in and ask to buy them all the time. The only people who ever read/take notice of signs are the ones for whom they aren't necessary.

How many life-sized stuffed dogs do they have regularly donated, if they can just keep selling the ones in the window and replacing them like for like?

In fact, why don't they just keep all of the donated large stuffed dogs in the shop, on sale, and then say, when asked, "The dressed up ones in the window aren't for sale, but we have all of these very similar ones which are"?!

This wasn't the case here, that someone would need to climb into the window. It's a big glass pane (used to be an Estate Agents) with shelves across. I/they can just take it off the shelf. I understand your points about distraction and having a coordinated display though.

There's a dog charity shop near me that has two big stuffed dogs in the window. I guess they get asked a lot as there's a sign saying they are not for sale. But I bet they still get asked (they are dressed up as service dogs and are life sized but are toys, not specific display props).
If it was my shop I'd use any random stuffed dog toy in the window and sell them! After all a shop window should display items for sale...

I expect the stuff that is clearly listed for sale, with price tags/stickers on, to be for sale. Nothing else.

Really? Everything? If you saw the assistant’s handbag behind the counter and liked it you would expect her to sell it to you? If you liked the curtain on the fitting room, or a picture on the wall in there, you would expect them to be for sale?

This

Do you? Even the display rails, signs, shelves....?

The "display only" items are exactly the same. Part of the shop fittings, albeit seasonal ones.

I love the big hanging Christmas decorations that my local Waitrose has up, I can’t be annoyed they won’t sell them to me.

Because it's to decorate the window, they may belong to staff even. Don't you like nicely decorated windows?

@Riverswims 🤔 um....nope. That's not how charity retailing works. If you want an 'everything must go's vibe then you probably need to lower your expectations and go to a local jumble sale.

you’re just being flippant and unhelpful. a charity shop is well a charity shop and you expect everything to be for sale 🤷🏽‍♀️

@Monty27 You have reminded me that back in the Stone Age when I was a child, our local department store used to put their window decorations in the January Sale! They were very much coveted, people used to make a beeline for that area as soon as the store opened on Sale Day, my DM included. We had several decorations ( kept from year to year in The Christmas Box in the loft) from them.

Thank you for that memory. ☺️

Also if they let people buy ornaments of the tree, then the tree will be gradually stripped of its decorations throughout December.

There might be certain staff (or the manager) who is good at visually putting a display together, and others who will just ram the decorations on any old place.

So even if they have spare ornaments, they might not look right if they are replaced by other staff, or they might not "go", or they might not be able to guarantee an endless supply of replacement ornaments.

Retailers think carefully about their Christmas displays and charity shops are no different.

It would be a bit of a nightmare for a shop to have a constantly changing Christmas display.

🙄

Most shops have Christmas decorations that aren't on sale to customers.

You don't expect to be able to buy every single thing you see in a regular shop.

The display might have been designed/ curated even if it looks random.

They might be particular ornaments set aside by the larger organisation for decorating the stores.

What's so special about these particular ornaments you're so interested in? Can you buy them elsewhere?

Can you tell us about these baubles? They sound a bit special.