wwhhhhhhhyyyy have charity shops taken to sorting clothing by colour?

[60andsomething]

I am a size 14. I want to look through what they have in my size. I want my size to be all together. I don't want to spend an hour wandering round 10 different areas looking for size 14 in every separate area.

Normal shops sort by colour because they have every size in every style, so you can choose the style you want, then go and find your size.

Charity shops only have one item in every style, so finding a style you like does not help. You need to find something by looking through what is available in your size

I just turn around and walk straight out, if I go into a charity shop nowadays and find this silly useless colour rail sorting. So all my money is going to the charity shops that DON'T do it

I prefer it.

Some of us can't afford to go shopping for anything that might take us on a whim. I only usually buy clothes I need such as "I need a blue top to match the trousers I already have, to wear to that Christening I'm going to".

Also I rarely go into a charity shop with ‘Must buy a skirt’ mindset.

Agree with this. Most of our customers are just browsing rather than looking for something specific and will pick up something which catches their eye - that's probably 90% of customers. The other 10% are looking for something but not specific, so maybe something to wear for work, something for a wedding, a party outfit. Might be skirt/top, might be a dress, jumpsuit whatever. We never get anyone coming in saying "I am looking for a blue crew neck jumper in a size 10".

My local charity shop got rid of the changing room to deter shoplifting. Is it the same in your shop? I’m gobsmacked that people would even think about stealing from a charity shop!

Agree, OP, I can't be arsed to look through so many racks when sorted by colour. I can see it might look more appealing but it is clearly putting off potential buyers judging by replies here.

Absolutely agree. I went into a shop in Reading that sells used clothes by the kilo - I’d never seen that before and was walking past and was intrigued. I left after about 3 minutes - it was sorted by type of item (fine) but then by colour. No clear indication of size at all (and had to dig to find a size label because of the way they were hung up).

@BlancheSaysYes it's a massive issue. I have volunteered in two shops, both part of national chains. In the first shop we were on a fairly busy high street location, we had regular thefts. Because the shop is in the typical "naice" area with good branded stock, lots of it bnwt. No security cameras, nothing tagged, often the person on the till is under 18, over 75 or has learning difficulties. It's a very very easy target if you are that way inclined.

One of the most common thefts was the switcher - would hit the store on a busy saturday afternoon, choose an expensive jacket, dress or something and say they were going to try it on in the changing room. Then either stuff the item in a bag and replace with a worn out/stretched/manky item they had brought from home, or leave wearing the shoplifted item and leave what they had arrived wearing on the hanger. It used to be my job every monday morning to sort the rails and tidy up and I'd find stuff every single week.

Others are just more brazen cases of straightforward taking what you want and walk out with it.

Agree with OP. I never find anything I want to wear in charity shops any more - mainly because of fabric choices, size, being more specific about what I want (I don't go in with very honed ideas but I do have a good idea of what I like now, as compared to when I was younger and bought all sorts) BUT the colour thing gives me a sick feeling. I don't know why. I don't have the energy to go through it all.

This is so true.

How on earth do they think we shop for bras?? Funnily enough, I'm only interested in buying a bra in my size. The chances of me buying a bra in a different size because I like the colour are zero. What would I be doing with it? Hanging it from the ceiling as an attractive plant pot holder?

Because it stops them looking like a jumble sale full of rubbish? I won't go in my local one because there isn't a square inch of space to look round

And there's nothing to stop them sorting in size within colour.

All they used to do was put all jumpers/skirts/dresses together with no order at all, anyway

Omg, I could have written your post! It drives me mad and I end up not buying anything. We have a good local charity shop but it did the colour organisation thing and I don't go there anymore. I just don't have the time to look through every single rail! 😡

I volunteer in a charity shop. We sort clothes by colour and within that, by size.
However when it's busy and customers try things on, they often put things back wherever they feel like. Usually there's time to sort it fairly quickly.

We also file our books by type, with the fiction all sorted alphabetically by author. But see above - there is a degree of maintenance required.

@BlancheSaysYes I agree with @Misthios we also have thefts, including switchers of clothes and shoes. I’ve done a few hours this morning, a gift box with quality perfume and body lotion was still there, minus the perfume.

Yanbu OP! I started a similar thread in January 2022 after a very frustrating trip to a large local charity shop, where DD and I searched for what felt like hours and neither of us bought a single thing!

92% agreed YANBU on that thread. I can't imagine who the 8% were.

No idea. Been charity shopping for decades. Could generally pretty much hone in on what I needed in a couple of minutes. Takes forever now!

A large Barnardo's opened in a nearby retail park and I was so excited because I love a charity shop. It was awful. Everything was sorted by colour, which I don't have a problem with, but within the colour, the clothes were not sorted at all. It was just a mixture of sizes, styles, lengths and the rails were so overfilled, you couldn't see anything or get to anything without it all tangling with each other. I persevered but once I'd found a few items, there was no changing room. I put the items back (within the right colour but that was all I worried about) and left. Never been back. I know it's only shopping but I'm not going to work that hard for it.

It’s saddening to hear that so much theft goes on in charity shops. How can people live with themselves?

I was in a charity shop earlier that had sorted the books by colour!

😂🌸 Exactly. I nearly always have to buy a bra because it nearly fits rather than because it is the colour I want. And as for when you want a bra for a date, the look I got asking ....whereas in Ann Summers when I said I had a date they were lovely. She said we live for customers like this with a date and was so lovely looking for something appropriate.

More than 3 out of 4 people agree?
That's OK, then! 😁🌞
Anyway, I haven't been in a charity shop for a loong time.
Will have to take a look.

I want them separated into styles- tops, trousers, skirts, long dresses etc, and sizes within those. I don't go in looking for 'something' green, I go in looking for a top in my size

Agree, I don't shop by colour but by style. I don't have the patience to look through every rail so they lose me as a customer.

I prefer it when they are sorted by colour, as I only live in blacks and greys anyway. Far easier to have a look. I also thinks it looks so much nicer... less chaotic (and Jumble Saley).

I hate it too. I always walk out and leave when I see it's like that.

Same idiocy that makes people shelve books by colour.

If you shop for certain colours it's relatively easy to identify any items you might be interested in on a mixed rail.

If you are looking for a particular size on a rail organised by colour you have to trawl through every damn item for size and then is it a skirt? a blouse? a jumper?

And the disappointment of finding something you think is nice only to see it's the wrong size. Far too much time and effort.