200 charity shops closing (cancer research)

but frequently the comments made by posters are ill informed-
eg most of the money raised goes to pay head office salaries, not true and can easily be verified with a quick google
sell all items for a pound- brings with it a whole new selection of problems eg volunteers to sort, quantity of goods required and the fact that many donors don’t want their donations sold for £1 when a higher price can be achieved.
What’s really frustrating is the assumption that staff are clueless: we receive a huge amount of data on sales and where I volunteer we change how much space is allocated to a specific range on a regular basis.
There are certain factors outside our control: quality of donations eg cheap fashion is hard to sell even at a very low price point.
ime if you (
general you) care about charity shops think about what you are donating: it takes time to sort through bags of broken, dirty and torn stuff. Does anyone really want your used bras? We would much prefer to spend time serving customers and presenting nice quality donations than sorting through stuff that belongs in the bin.

Where do you live?
I love a good day out charity shop shopping and several have closed near me.

@SorcererGaheris , If I wanted the book, I'd pay a sensible price. The 50p books encourage me to buy books I would have left if they were £2.50.
I re-donate them, but even at 50p, they don't sell quickly.

Good, there are way too many charity shops.

@MaturingCheeseball

Glad you like them. Oxfam bookshops, in my experience, try to present themselves as being like general bookshops; i.e. quite professionally laid out.

I agree that at the moment, some charity shops are not necessarily fit for purpose, and I think some points in this thread are fair enough and reasonably legitimate - I just don't necessarily think they're the whole reason why some charity shops are failing.

Various factors come into play, including the issues people here raise, but others too. Given the cost of living, I agree it might be prudent for some charities to consider reducing their prices somewhat - at least temporarily. They could give it a go and if it made no difference, then they could raise them again.

But I also think that some people have expectations or ideas of what charity shops should do that just aren't workable in practice or aren't going to happen. At Oxfam, 50p (or even a pound) for a paperback novel (in good condition) of an original price of £7.99 just isn't going to happen. That kind of book goes for £2.99 in my shop, though I think £1.99 would be a reasonable price.

@Jumpingthruhoops , there is no Home Bargains in the town where I live, and The Range is on a Retail Park about a mile and a half from the town centre.
It's not a shop I'd goout of my way to get to.
There's a Home Bargains in neighbouring towns. The nearest one is about 8 miles away.

You're right they are: these days, it's arguably cheaper to buy these things from the likes of The Range and Home Bargains than it is from a charity shop. Therein lies the problem...

It just gets better and better. So now you can ascertain someone's ethnicity based on alleged criminality....

There's a word for that, and that word is racist

It was a clapped out rusty van. Plus the two in the van used to shoplift at my previous work. Was informed about being gypsies

prices:quality ratio is bad

Proof if nothing else

@SorcererGaheris - I must say Oxfam bookshops are a cut above the usual though! I am a very regular customer. The staff are always helpful and knowledgeable because I guess the shops attract “book-y” people to work there.

But there are cs workers who come on threads and furiously defend their shops when time after time posters say what is wrong/what puts them off, and the fact that charities are closing multiple stores is proof of nothing else that they are largely not fit for purpose - ie making sales.

Sure. Because you can tell people's ethnicity from the type of car they drive......

Even at 50p some books do not sell. I am responsible for the book section and I do rotate the stock, but sometimes I send books to be recycled. I don’t want customers to see the same boring stock week after week.

@Tiredofwhataboutery

It possibly could have that effect, but I can't see it being a major reason. Volunteers have diverse reasons for volunteering, and quite a few choose to volunteer for reasons beneficial to themselves (to gain work experience, to meet new people, to just give them something to do) - so I think people who volunteer for reasons such as those are probably not going to care too much even if they themselves thing the prices are on the high side.

For myself, I can say that the reason I volunteer at an Oxfam bookshop is purely for fun. I'm interested in books and I mostly find the work enjoyable, so volunteering there is all about pleasure for me, and nothing to do with the cause itself. A couple of other volunteers have told me that their motivation is essentially the same - they volunteer because they find books interesting, Oxfam's work doesn't factor into it.

In our specific case, we HAVE to send books to be recycled, because books are the vast majority of our stock, and so we can't realistically sell every one of them before new stock has to come on the shelves.

Yes it’s the lack of volunteers. Some CS have closed early or not at all due to volunteers being unavailable for various reasons.

Been unemployed but didn’t fancy volunteering in a CS as certain people where I live and shopped at gave me panic attacks.

In my area I think they price clothes like this because they are your main local option for clothes. There are no clothes shops in my immediate area, your choices are charity shops, the 'old lady' stalls or Asda, unless you want to venture out to the city centre or nearest big shopping centre. It's backfiring in most of them - BHF is probably the exception as it's always busy.

Be careful of these sacks. Some are bogus charities. One of these had a company number which I searched on Companies House. The number was for a group of mechanics in North Wales!

Also if legit, I have seen gypsies picking these up in a clapped out car.

I do use the bags turned inside out to donate to CS.

I do wonder if it also contributes to a lack of volunteers. I do the odd bit of volunteering in the local ( very good value) thrift shop. I’d struggle to give my time to a place that I felt was overpriced and sending books etc to be recycled rather than just having a 50p shelf.

We have a charity book shelf in our local Tesco. I give them all my read books.

We regularly get plastic sacks through the door asking for all sorts of things, I'm surprised this isn't more widespread.
I don't donate, they're usually charities I've never heard of & wouldn't support.

There's a van from a local charity that parks in the village & collects donations on a regular basis. We are told what not to donate.

I like UK charity shops for cookery books and crockery. Usually £1-2 for a book and same for a plate/cup, but I only buy bone china or I may as well go to Adsa.

I’ll be sad if the CR shop shuts in my parents village. I’ve found some real gems in there.

They're too expensive.
There's a 'charity' shop near me with a sole purpose of zero to landfill. Everything is £1 and it alway busy with fast through put of stock.

I'd be devastate if charity shops closed. I go at least once a month and have a look round all the ones local to me. I haven't bought a new item of clothing in six years as I can get it all in the charity shops. Also have loads of other things I have bought there - all the curtains in our house are from charity shops and they are really nice, thick, warm ones for £10 each.

I don't get online shopping for clothes. I tried it but its really hard to know how something fits without trying it on, and returning is a pain in the arse. Also, its not a leisure activity like going to the shops and finishing with something nice to eat and drink in a cafe is.

Kids like going with me too as they always find something they want as well, so its our family day out once a month.

Love it.