Charity shops have lost the plot

[DancingonmyOwn88]

Had a bit of time to kill before work earlier so had a browse in a charity shop. Surrey town but more commuter belt than anything salubrious. Shop was a run of the mill one not one of the boutique type offerings.

Nice green and white maxi dress, casual summer type thing, the other dresses were priced around £8 pounds which isn’t really a bargain but as I liked it a lot I picked it up- only to see it was priced at £30. Yes it was ‘Max Studio’ but those dresses aren’t going for anything like that on Vinted etc.

I asked why it was priced so high and the lady said ‘it’s designer’.😐

Probably been sitting there for months!! Where’s the sense in it?! Why have charity shops become so far removed from what they’re supposed to be- a way to shop sustainably and feel like you’re getting a bargain because it’s not new? Yeah I know they want to raise money as well but surely they’d do that a damn sight quicker if they actually shifted stock and not stuck eye watering labels on things.

I’m still annoyed from last week from a different shop as well when my little boy picked up a toy dinosaur figure and the label said £6. We put it back and I told them why but they didn’t care obviously and it’s still sitting there as of yesterday. How greedy to price children’s toys so high. When I was little you could always find a pocket money toy for a couple of pounds and come away feeling chuffed.

Ive heard lots are going out of business and my sympathy is somewhat limited. Serves them right. They seem to be terrified of people grabbing bargains to resell but then they’ve forgotten that some people on lower incomes are using them to buy clothes etc too.

Max Studio is nothing to
do with TK Maxx. It is an independent label. They had a shop in Westbourne Grove at one time, I remember spending £200 in there on a skirt (which I still have, it's beautiful) and I have a few of their dresses too. £30 sounds about right for a dress if it's good quality.

I agree, the charity shops get their stock from
donations so surely if they can sell more and take more donations they will make more money in the long run.

The point of charity shops is to raise money for the charity. If I donate a brand new with tags Toast silk dress that is in the window display of the hospice shop, I want them to raise money to pay for terminally ill people to benefit from hospice care, not to give some person a bargain to sell on for their own benefit on Vinted.

I stopped going to charity shops for a long time, as the prices were so expensive! Selling bobbly clothing for £8 etc.

I was pleasantly surprised to get some bargains recently - a pair of Mango chinos for £1. A New Look top for £3 (I’d bought the identical top in a different colour from New Look a few months before for £12), and a pair of Lee jeans for £6.

My local BHF is closing down. Maybe they are all wising up about their prices?

Many charities are big businesses and the CEOs are on much lower remuneration than the CEOs of similar sized businesses, the only difference being that the profits go to the charity's cause rather than shareholders. Should a business turning over multimillions of pounds be headed up by someone with no experience of running a large company? Do you really want Mary who has no business experience but who has run weekly coffee mornings for a local animal sanctuary being appointed the CEO of Cancer Research/British Heart Foundation?

There was a poster a couple of pages back that said she did get a Max Studio dress (very similar if not the same as I described) in TKM for £13. They did have a store once but they quickly flooded the cheaper outlets I think (with much cheaper versions of their original stock ) A quick google tells you they sold them on Amazon and in TK Max.

Yes! I saw a Persephone book-The Village- in my local Oxfam. I can very rarely find them second hand and so knew it would be a bit more. I was happy to pay more, as I collect them.

I picked it up. It had been read but was in good condition-no foxing, turned pages or pencil marks but the spine was creased and the owner had written their name inside.

It was £14. I could buy it brand new from Waterstones in the same town for £17, so that's what I did.

I don't think anyone will buy the Oxfam copy at that price. I woud have been happy to pay £10,

I think it is relative , I do believe the salaries are excessive especially as they are relying so heavily on volunteers to staff the shops . There is a balance between the two.

I think you might be thinking of Max Mara Studio.

It is naughty of TK Maxx to call their line, Max Studio as it sounds so similar but there the similarity ends!

We have three charity shops in our local high street - Shelter, RSPCA and a local hospice. The hospice shop (being local) gets by far the best stuff, because people are inclined to support it, and also sells it the lowest prices. Win-win for both the hospice and the customers.

People always post the same predictable tedious line on these threads.... 'the aim of the charity shop is to make as much money for the charity as possible!' I am sure about half a dozen people have come out with this same line on THIS thread.

Thing is, they're not gonna make 'as much money as possible' if people aren't buying the stock because the prices are too high. Said item might have retailed for £75 when it was bought a year ago or whatever, but it's second hand now, it's in a charity shop, and it's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

I would not be paying £30 for a shirt or little summer dress from a charity shop. I don't care if it's 'designer'. Designer clothes mean nothing to me. I couldn't care less if it belonged to Princess Diana.

Agree.

I had this conversation with a friend last week. Our nearest charity shop was fantastic, I could get quite a few nice small toys at pocket money prices. Not anymore!!! £3+ for something I could buy brand new for less from Poundland. Such a shame.

Even the brand new things they buy in, are overpriced. £6.25 for one of those squares filled with note paper.

My Dsis (midwife) once helped a couple through the birth of their child. The husband parks his brand new BMW and rocks up in this amazing designer made to measure suit looking a million dollars....My Dsis asks what he does for a living. The soon to be mum says he's a charity boss for Oxfam (and is on a fortune ££!!)
It rather puts me off donating to charity when you realise you're funding someone's ridiculously high salary instead of going to the actual heart of the charity where it's needed 😡

I fully agree! Especially as they get most of this stuff as donations. One of the charity shops near me were pricing items as if it were a high end boutique.
Hardly surprising it's just closed.

My sister, who is well off and likes fashion, sells items like this on Vinted and twice a year, gives the money she has earned straight to the local hospice.

She has plenty of time to do this-not everyone has- but I think it's a good idea.

You haven't met the board members . Amateurs with tremendous power. Now that can be depressing.

I have seen COS items in Oxfam priced as much as they are in actual COS shop. Like, really?

People see their best stuff on vinted snd being crap things in charity shops. So they need to sell them at a certain price to try to cover their cost.
majoriry of charity shops throw away donations as they are too crap, they sell them for cheap (like 25p a piece) to some companies that bring them to developing countries where they are bought by shops. Since many are not sold they end up in landfills. The companies that “recycle@ these clothes to developing countries profit A LOT . There was an article in the telegraph that I have posted below.
it is a broken system, only found in the UK, that needs to be stopped.

https://apple.news/AD53nFrzSQQSh4IbaOp0yog

The independent charity shop I know well sells paperbacks for 50p and hardback is for £1

it sells bric a brac, toys, jigsaws for pennies.

it sells clothes for top whack because it generally stocks high end stuff

its been there 25 years and has a strong reputation for selling great quality stuff. as such, it generally only gets the good donations. People seem to take the lower value bits to charity shops with a reputation for selling cheaply.

as the stuff is higher priced, they are able to make around £5k per year on gift aid.

it’s a win win all round.

my point is that this particular shop and its staff/volunteer team know their market. They are experts in what they do.

and I suspect the same applies to the vast majority of shops who offer so much value to the community - income for the charity, volunteering opportunities for those looking for social interaction or work skills, reducing landfill, community hubs and so much more.

it’s a shame to see so many charity shop knocking threads on MN. I don’t ever see threads criticising the teams at Amazon or tk maxx or Hobbs or Waterstones.

There were 4 in the town I was in yesterday and they all had signs saying they couldn't accept donations at the moment. Lots of people wandering around them, very few heading to the checkout.
We only looked properly in kids toys and book sections as it was my son wanting to shop, even he made a face when happy meal toys were priced at £2.

Would you mind sharing where this is?
sounds amazing!!

That's not what charity shops are "supposed" to be for, they're literally there to raise money for the charity. I've worked with over 250 charity shops and if they've researched the sold prices on ebay, and price them according to that and they don't sell within a month, they then reduce them.

Charity shops exist for one purpose: make money for the charity. When you consider rent and rates it's a miracle there are any left at all. Sure you could argue they get reliefs, which they do but they still have to make a profit and that means charging more.

Northern Ireland, various towns and villages have independent charity shops and I've found half my wardrobe in them 😀

Sadly most Charity shops have got very greedy. Charging silly prices. I have seen items priced higher that original price. They get the stock free and most the staff work free. Look how much the directors of these shops are earning it's outrageous.