Giving up on charity shop shopping!

[Notcontent]

I have always bought a large proportion of my clothes second hand. When I was a teenager (not in the U.K.) it was largely due to financial reasons. This was before second hand became cool. Anyway, the habit stayed with me and over the years, living in London, my wardrobe has been a mix of second hand (80% I would say), basics from places like Uniqlo and the occasional more expensive new item.

But in the last couple of years or so I have increasingly found very little worth buying in my local charity shops. There are fewer nice things (being sold online maybe?) and what is there is really expensive. Today I had a good look and there were gems like a shrunken Uniqlo jumper for £17 and lots of similar things.

Sorry - have just come back.
I am in North London and I look on an almost weekly basis. Look in the same shops I used to but the stock and prices have definitely changed.

I will try Vinted although I much prefer to see things in person so I can try them on and check quality.

Insider tip - I was in my local Oxfam the other day and chatting to my friend who volunteers there, she said they had had a massive corporate donation from Zara. Like 25 boxes per store of stuff, it's mostly online returns, some things with very minor faults like make up staining or a missing button.

So if you're the sort of person who likes Zara stock, worth popping in to your local store for a rummage.

The best charity shop I have come across is in bourneville village.

I love charity shops and Vinted. I do prefer the shops as I like to see the item in person. You have to go regularly. A couple of smart market towns near me have a few good ones and I’ve got a few good items in them recently as has DH. One shop in particular does a really good job at setting the shop out like a boutique and they don’t put out greyed old Primark stuff!

On Vinted filter to ‘new with tags’. I’ve bought some lovely Mango dresses for £10 or less that way.

It depends totally on your area and which charity shop.

There’s a local one near me which is quite good but the prices are almost the same as high street fashion!

I popped to a small one which I hadn’t been to before near my hairdresser the other day and came out with a small genuine leather red bag Longchamp gold logo, M&S black and white I think star print midi dress virtually new and two faux pearl necklaces, and a blue leather bag all for about £17.00, the dress was the most expensive item, red bag was £3.00.

I'm not planning on giving up but I did a reckoning on how much shit I'd bought there last year and it was quite a shock. I don't find them conducive to thoughtful shopping. And yeah stuff from Shein, Boohoo etc all creeping in.

Work out where the good stuff is with chain charity shops - we send the primark/George/Shein etc to the "outlet" branch in the city (not such a nice area to be honest) and keep the good stuff for our branch, I bought a monsoon dress with tag's yesterday for £10 (£89 new)

I still find the odd bargin. But it's got to be viewed as fun because there's an awful lot of overpriced tat floating around. Found a Radlett tote bag this week and a dress for £10

I don't really bother looking any more, but DD finds things she likes (less picky than me - and also has the bloom of youth so can look good in anything).

I do quite regularly donate some very nice things, though.

I think this must be area dependent.

I get all sorts of bargains in charity shops.
I am not looking for labels mind - I see if something looks nice, and if it fits. Doesn't bother me if someone else paid more for it because it has come from a certain shop. In the last few months I've bought both Jacques Vert and supermarket brands in charity shops.

@UsingChangeofName , me too. If it's nice and I'll wear it, I don't care if it's from a cheap shop or a designer brand.

They’ve become too expensive in our town, I saw a wool blazer in the Red Cross shop last week for £60!! Yes it was a smart Jigsaw blazer but £60 in a charity shop??

Where I go there are bargains to be had ( Brora fair isle wool
cardigan for under £9, Didrikson kids coat for less than £15 ( I am lucky that it fits me) and Longchamp le pliage bag ( never used and still folded) for less than £10. I visited somewhere recently and a lovely cotton blouse from Topshop was priced at around £13! Had it of been new with tags then fair enough. It was quite a shock considering my regular haunts would have priced the top at less than £7!

One of our local charity shops has a designer rail! I live somewhere where there are a lot of racehorse trainers and owners, and it does seem to mean that there are lots of very good bargains to be had in the charity shops!

@Niftythrifter , that sounds like my local ones but even better.

I got an unboxed but unused scented candle for £1 the other week. It's a limited edition famous brand (starts with a d) one.

Diptique by any chance @KirstenBlest ?

A local charity to me has a more upmarket/ designer branch with prices that reflect that and hence not many bargains to be had in terms of finding a Chanel bag for a pound ( I wish!) kind of find!

Yes. Didn't want to out myself in case someone sees it and realises who I am and how little I paid for it. It's pongy but I won't light it

I found a Burberry 100% silk shirt dress for £5 in mine this week - perfect condition and pockets still sewn up I couldn't believe it! Found similar on their website for £1,500. The quality is not particularly good for that price tag - there's no lining for a start which I'd expect for that cost. But for £5 I thought why not!

I used to like charity shops but now prefer ebay as a lot more stock all in one place. Have also been really lucky with local bootsales, genuine people having a clearout, got a Skagen watch for £5 etc.
I still enjoy mooching round charity shops if visiting a wealthy area, lots of lovely things in Marlborough still with tags on.

I've spent £40 in charity shops this weekend, but for that got two lovely big M&S baskets for storage, a wicker hamper basket that is the perfect size for a tricky over the fridge shelf, two lovely almost new Joules jumpers and a jumper dress and a never been used real leather Mulberry knock-off that is brand new. I have no idea who gave it all away, but can only assume I was the first person in after my shopping fairy godmother!

I wouldn't bother in London but we live in a secondary city and drive to the posh bits for a charity shop wander. It's always good and sometimes brilliant.

I get loads from the charity shops, other than underwear, socks etc my whole wardrobe is second hand. I got a beautiful whistles leather biker jacket recently. That cost a bit more than I would usually spend but £25 for a real leather jacket ain’t bad and it’s sooooooo buttery soft. I always look like I spend far more than I do on clothes as I have a good eye for finding quality bargains. I go in our local one at least once a week and have bought so much from there. I also have some rather expensive kitchenware that I’ve bought from charity shops.

Our Red Cross is also a shocker for this.

I mean if I wanted to spend upwards of £60 on an item of clothing, I'd buy it new.

But I'm in a charity shop so clearly I don't.

It's a bugger when you avoid certain charity shops as they're too expensive.

The only ones that are still reasonable around here are the local hospice and animal charity shops.

I wonder if people are donating less. I've recently started selling and buying on local FB groups and got some great items and made a few pounds from what I've sold.
Not sure what has prompted me to do this - think it because I'm less often in the area where the charity shops are, so it's just more convenient.

My Brora cardigan, Didrikson Coat and Whistles jersey jacket all came from the British Red Cross! Maybe the prices are area dependent?