Charity shop joy...

[FourFriedChickensDryWhiteToast]

Any charity shop fiends here?
You will never guess I got a Calvin Klein women's shirt, as new, fine mauve and blue stripes on white, my size, off the POUND RAIL at a charity shop in my local town today...

Then later I found a little Jorli jacket, OK that was a fiver, its like thick matted cardigan wool, but a jacket, in grey.

Then a pair of brand new black jeans, kind of mum cut, high waist.

I look so smart, and spent £13.

Maybe we should have a charity shop tenner challenge?

I got a lovely designer dress for £35 probably over £200 new in April, pleased with that. Our charity shops are quite expensive but I'm always looking out for a bargain. I got some nice cashmere sweaters for £6 each recently and I'm way too mean to ever buy cashmere new.

Dolores - that's basically it. In the store, there's lots of high end high street (like Jagear, White stuff, Hobbs, Boden etc), and the 'cheaper' designer stuff like tops, jeans (lots of designer jeans come in!), but a suit or an evening dress would go on eBay.

Worth noting, unless something is in a good condition - so no obvious wear, no marks or stains - it doesn't go out, even if it is designer. Also it needs to seasonably correct, so many will be saving winter coats they get in over the summer and will put them out in the next few weeks.

We get more stuff in than we can fit in the shop, so we do send stuff (that's in a saleable condition!) to other stores in the area, and can be picky, so it's not full of crap.

I once found a rare piece of pottery by my favourite designer. I collect it and I nearly went cold when I saw it sitting there on the shelf. They were asking a fiver for something worth nearly £100. I gave them £20 and a shit load of donations next time I went in. Was so excited.

That wouldn’t happen nowadays though. They’d have googled the name, found out it was collectible and either priced it £100 or more likely just sold it on EBay.

It was this year. I was pretty surprised that they hadn’t googled it.

Lots of our volunteers are very elderly - many are into their 80s. They wont do "the google". It can be really difficult to recognise what's valuable and what's not when you're dealing with so much stuff.

The other day I thought i'd had a real find - a nicely framed original watercolour of a windmill by a named Dutch painter. Very excitedly went off to Google. Numerous similar selling on a website for £10.

We do our best to nab the good stuff for further research before some well-meaning volunteer prices a designer handbag for 99p. But stuff slips through. Makes a good Antiques Roadshow segment though, a piece of jewellery picked up for pennies which is actually a priceless antique.

...sigh... I think about 'the one that got away' often. I worked in a charity shop in my teens and found a beautiful Nicole Farhi black wool winter coat in there one day. I asked the manager to put it to one side for me and I pay the whole asking price of £10 but then we had a fight and i left and didn't get to buy my coat...

Another huge fan of charity shops, although the ones near me don’t tend to have a lot of designer stuff. My fav is the warehouse clearance section at the back of the hospice shop. All adult clothes £1 each & you can get some lovely jewellery & bric a brac 3 for £1.

I have got loads from charity shops over the years for myself and my DC.
I live in Scotland and around me there are many discount charity stores where everything is under £3 .
I have had Benetton wool coats £1.50, Dr Martens £1 , Nike trainers £1, LK Bennett jacket £1.50, phase eight dresses £2, lots brand new with tags

I love the thrill of finding something amazing
Some of the prices on this thread are blowing my mind ! We just don’t have any shops here that would sell items for anywhere near £20. Perhaps boutique charity shops in the main cities of Glasgow or Edinburgh but certainly nothing like those price scales in the slightly deprived towns and areas that I shop in

My best bargains seem to be children's things - organic brands for as little as 25p, nice wooden toys. Scramblebug for £3. Etc etc. I've also had branded things for me, and between us, DP and I have found lots of modern board games (one of our biggest shared hobbies) for bargain prices

We have a "last chance saloon" type shop near us where things other branches couldn't sell go. Everything £1 or less, kids clothes usually 25p. It always seems worth a rummage, rarely leave empty handed (or at least without having snickered at some of the absolute tat in there)

My best find was a long banana republic wool coatigan thingy for £10. Unfortunately it's a medium and it doesn't fit atm but you reminded me I have it so...incentive!

Yesterday I got a small brand new leather handbag for £6. I looked online and it's worth around £60. It's not the first leather one I've had.

A Debenhams prom style ball dress for £4 in the half price sale.

Many many others over the years!!

Ooh I also had some Paul smith perfume brand new in box once for £2.50. Not an expensive perfume but definitely more than£2.50 worth! And it wasn't off either lol

I'm in Yorkshire and out charity shop sells 10 quid Primark dresses for £9. The nicer stuff if almost full price. It's an affluent area but I think they're pricing themselves out of the market.

I prefer looking at the wooden toys and books which do seem reasonable.

I'm fortunate enough to have loads around my office so trawl through them on a regular basis. I basically shop to order now. 'I need a new football top' , 'I need a new work dress', ' can you pick up some size x skinny jeans - Next preferably - next time you're looking?'.

Don't DS (7) has had anything new (apart from shoes and pants).

Loros near us charge too much for things, but I love oxfam and a few others. I never come out empty handed. Often find sports tops for my DC.

Definitely so many kids bargains
The only new things I buy my kids now are underwear and the odd essentials like school uniform / club uniforms

I’ve had so many items brand new with tags , kids Next t shirts / jackets etc for around £1
Little vans etc for younger DC that I just pop in the washing machine they come up brand new

Had lovely Usborne hardback reference books for 50p

Just so much love for the bargain shops

I run a charity shop & am constantly amazed at the fabulous donations we receive (along with the rubbish . Like others we 'price to sell' & get to know our local market. We do google designer brands for a price reference. If things don't sell within a couple of weeks we would put good labels on line and yes, we can then charge a premium - I had a leather jacket in store for £10, no one was interested, put it on line & got £30 for it but I would always put something out for my local customers first.
It is worth getting to know your local charity shop staff, I don't save items for people but I do point out new stock to our regular customers that I think they would like, which usually results in a sale. Also, many charities have corporate relationships with the big retailers so find out if your favourite charity shop does.
My personal Best Buy was brand new Birkenstock shoes for £10.

I love a good charity shop. After complaining on a thread not long ago that I hadnt picked up anything decent in an age I got several bargains in the last couple of weeks.
LK Bennett beautiful lined silk dress for a tenner, looks new
Phase Eight silk dress £3.50
Brand new Italian made Per Una top labelled at £30, again £3.50
Basler Chanel style jacket £8.

Think my wardrobe needs a clear out

I got some Gabor shoes (unused) yesterday for a tenner. Would have been about £90 rrp.

I usually have a list in my head of what I’m looking for. At the moment I’m stalking the shops for a navy leather bag but haven’t yet found one I like.

Got my DD a Joules coat in brand new condition for £5. Also got her a Ben Sherman cardigan for £2.50. That was a good day...

50s blouse £5, taffeta frilled jacket £5 cord dress £5 brand new with tags black lace trim dress £2.50 and a spotty dress £2.50! I love charity shops!

I got a Joules dress and jumper for £2.50 each. I lovely Monsoon jumper for £1.25. Monsoon jeans for £1. Brand new linea shoes £2.

Brand new coat from next for dc1 £3 tag said £55! Next shorts for 50p loads of t-shirts for 50-75p all in fab condition. Brand new snow boots £1.50.

Saying that the charity shops around here have started pricing themselves out £6 for a worn primark t-shirt

I found some fab stuff in the town where my Gran lives, brand new next curtains £3.50, a new next rug £5. A lamp for 50p. A side table for £1.50.

my best buy EVER was a pair of Louboutin shoeboots for £7.50, allegedly they were a 7, but they didn't fit, however I thought they might fit dd, but no, so they went to her bestie.
I am a legend amongst her friends!

for myself the best bargain is probably my leather jacket, a tenner! When I bought it I looked on ebay ...there was one on there for £160!

Charity shops irritate me. They are not cheap. They are not for poorer people. Yes, maybe you can get a dress for £20 which was £200 new but if you were genuinely hard up you could go to Primark and get a dress for a tenner. In the ones near me they sell primark stuff for not much less than it would have cost originally.

I never donate to them anymore. I have some children's clothes and shoes which my dc haven't even worn. Quite frankly I'd rather give them away for free to a family who'd need them and cut out the middle man as it were.

Charity shops irritate me. They are not cheap. They are not for poorer people. Yes, maybe you can get a dress for £20 which was £200 new but if you were genuinely hard up you could go to Primark and get a dress for a tenner. In the ones near me they sell primark stuff for not much less than it would have cost originally

I think you mean the charity shops you happen to know. The ones I know are cheap, they are for poorer people. You can get a 200 quid dress for a tenner and a primark dress for 2 quid. Yes, I could go get a new dress for a tenner, but why would I when I can get a coast dress for a tenner?