How cheap or expensive are the charity shops in your area?

[PragmaticDramatic]

The charity shops in my local area are cheap as chips. For example a top shop blouse will set you back no more than around the £4 mark compared to Edinburgh where it would cost £10.

I too buy on vinted now. I used to get some amazing stuff, but then again had the choice from a very affluent university town.

Varies - the shop with the worst selection is the most expensive with the grumpiest staff.

One place was charging £5 for some Primark leggings that might not have even cost that much when new. I do sympathise that super cheap-ass fast fashion creates a problem for charity shops though when it's so cheap in the first place (and the quality is lousy so unless it's unworn it's possibly no good to anyone)

Mixed here too, some are still very reasonable but others are very overpriced. Prices have gone up a lot since Covid. The quality of the items is generally quite poor too especially in the town centre. A combination of people selling on sites like Vinted and now donating to a large easily accessible donation centre that's opened have hit them I think.

They have gotten really expensive. The ones in the town my dd goes to high school are more expensive than most shops, they have been set up to look like boutiques. It is an expensive town anyway, I no longer bother going.

There are 3 in our small market town, one is full of new toys, but not toys people want to buy, lots of slime and rubber toys that retailers haven’t sold. I asked what happened to all the 2nd hand toys and was told they have to put out the new stuff first, they literally had 4 used toys out because that’s all they had room for. All donated clothes just go in big bins outside no organisation. Another has just had a boutique look makeover and prices have jumped up to cover the cost. If I want to spend £50 on a handbag I will buy new.

There is a town 20 min drive that is supposed to be amazing for charity shops, I went a few weeks ago, 20 shops later I’d bought 1 thing.

There are an odd one in random locations I will drive to if I’m close by that are still ok, one in a warehouse, nothing fancy, lots of bins to look through but they will at least have things sectioned, mens here, womens here etc… I’ve noticed it’s getting more new stock, lots of napkins and paper plates, the shop is right next to a home bargains and Poundland which are cheaper than the charity shop. On a whole though it’s not as expensive as most of the charity shops around.

My closest one, (small religious charity run) definitely caters to the local community and they have some useful things and sometimes some great things. The ones in my nearest city can be pricey.

Good article by Patrick from Sewing Bee in The Guardian, yesterday, spotted online.
He used the following words throughout the article to describe where we are today with the quality of clothes and fashion, crap, bollocks and shit. And he's a very polite man, but no fan of the fast stuff!

Grandad shirts, there's a memory.

It completely depends. We have several that are run by smaller/local charities that are generally pretty cheap. Some of the larger national charity shops can be really expensive - I also find that these are often run by people who really have no idea of the value of an item so will just think 'dress - so should be priced at around £15' with no thought as to whether that is a dress from Coast/Ted Baker etc (ie upper end of the high street) or Primark/Bonmarche etc.

I was looking for a cheap outfit for a wedding recently (it was themed so I would literally be buying it for that one day and don't have the £££ at the moment to pay too much!). I saw one strappy sun dress in the right colour, had a closer look and discounted it - pretty shapeless, slightly faded, had some bobbles and made from cheap jersey material. Checked the price tag just out of nosiness and it was H&M and £20!!! They'd written H&M in big letters on the tag as it was clearly a brand they'd heard of, but didn't realise that it's generally seen as cheap, almost disposable fashion (and the same dress probably cost less new!).

Midlands. Insane prices. Think £10 for a bobbly PLT jumper, £7 for a Primark tee that cost £3 new. £12 well worn New Look shoes!

It's not a posh area by any means, bog standard town.

Honestly don't understand who is buying any of it. Just use Vinted now.

I volunteer in a charity shop in a part of Glasgow which has a reputation for being "posh". A blouse/top from somewhere like Zara or M&S would go out at about £5, perhaps £6 or £7 if it was very fancy or silk. A dress around £8 to £10 for M&S/Zara, less for H&M or George/F&F, more for Hobbs/Monsoon but not more than £15. Light summer jackets about £6 - £10 depending on brands, very heavy winter coats (which we're not selling at the moment) on a case by case basis but £8 - £15.

@Misthios those prices seem reasonable.

I love my local Oxfam - there’s always something I want. I’ve bought several Boden dresses, a Joules skirt which I wear for work at least once a week and the Phase Eight dress which I wore to the Coronation! It had cost me £15 a year before. Teamed it with a new jacket and bag from Hobbs and a John Lewis fascinator.

Very mixed but there are loads stuffed full of bobbly Primark and TU tops for more than they would have been new.

The one down the road from us is open on a Sunday so I normally pop in with my son. Last week I got 7 pieces of Emma Bridgewater for £4.99. Today I got a M&SxGhost dress for £3.99. However I picked up a H&M t-shirt and they wanted £9.99 for that. It very much seems a case of who is marking up.

We don't even put out anything bobbled or cheap stuff from Shein, Boohoo, Primark. We have a minimum of £3, if it's not worth that, it doesn't go out. Quality of donations can be an issue, we are in an affluent area and still get good stuff, but a lot of dross too.

I'm in the US and shop in my local Goodwill for all my clothes. They do uniform pricing there and the most expensive items are about $14.99 (some coats $19.99) with the cheapest $3.99. Most items are priced between $4.99 and $7.99.

I bought a brand new with tags pair of Levi's bermuda shorts there last week for $7.99 and a pair of KSwiss sneakers for $6.99. Also a nice hoodie with the logo of a certain American national park on it for $6.99.

@mathanxiety One of my favourite things to watch on You Tube is thrifting videos.

@mathanxiety in the USA.

Very mixed. One in particular (large national charity) is very expensive, I paid £4.50 for a child’s H&M summer dress there the other day which I thought was a lot for second-hand H&M. Although I suppose since I still bought the dress, maybe their strategy is ok!

However there are others which are loads cheaper. I don’t see much Shein/Primark on the rails. One of the shops just has a bargain bin type thing which says “Shein clothes, all items £1” which seems like a good idea!