Please come and share your charity shops tips on how to snap up a bargain and also share what your bargains have been!

[Notalone]

I know most of the time its just pot luck - being there at the right time. However what I want to know is...
Does location matter? - I live near a town that is not very well off with rubbish shops. I always get a train to another city about 40 miles away to do any shopping as it has some amazing shops. Am I best off looking in a place where people are slightly better off and where there are loads of shops where the donations may potentially have come from? Or should I save my train fare and look closer to home?
Do all the really great finds get snapped up by the people who work there?
Is it best to arrive first thing to grab the best things?
And what have you found that has been wonderful from a charity shop? Especially in relation to womens and kids clothes?

I think it depends a bit on where you live - though not always. I used to live in Brighton and I know that Oxfam there had a policy of sending clothes to different shops to ensure a more 'even' spread of nice clothes.

But - if you live in London, many charity shops in very nice areas have very nice clothes. I like Highgate Village.

I have a wonderful military style greatcoat that I bought many years ago and still gets admiring comments.

I used to live in Sheffield, and rented a flat in a part of town I could never afford to live now! The charity shops there (Including Oxfam) always have decent stuff. I still do a lot of shopping in Sheffield, and always pop in to this part of town, often find a bargain.

I hear that the Barnados in Alderly Edge (Footballers Wives belt) is a bit of a designer boutique, and certainly found this of the King's Rd Oxfam when I was growing up in London.

In my experience, student areas in University towns tend to be good too, as students are so trendy these days, bit also move a lot.

However, my mum works in a hospice shop in a village in Somerset and they save all the good stuff to send to the big shops in Yeovil and Taunton.

Best bargain - fab retro duffel coat, £2 in 1989, still going strong!

the charity shops near me are great, picked up many bargains for the kids. bikerunski - wonder if they're the ones you used to frequent!

some of my best bargains have been

osh kosh dungarees for 50p like new
ELC pink palace £5 although was marked up at £2.50!
complete muzzy set for £2

pick up far less now than when i was on maternity leave, i think visiting frequently is the best chance you have.

I am in Sheffield and often go across town (to the posher side ) the charity shops there are really good and strangely enough are cheaper than the ones nearer to me.

Some bargains are

Massive bag of brand new bricks £2.00

HSM cheerleader outfit 2.50

Barbie house and aeroplane --5.00

Loads of clothes from next and adams no more than 1.50 for any one item

Now this is interesting because I also used to live in Brighton and I have friends there who get some fantastic bargains.

Now my nearest town is Rotherham though I tend to shop in Leeds or Sheffield. I have occasionally got some good stuff in Rotherham but mainly books, the clothes are very hit and miss. Where in Sheffield re these shops Bikerunski? I am going to uni next month and will be at Collegiate Campus. Are any of them be near where I am studying? Any tips for good ones in Leeds as this is where I was thinking of bargain hunting

Jumble Sales are a good bet IME. I help out at two a year in very 'nice' areas and we get first dibs as we sort the stuff out.

Have had a new men's coat from Next 50p, brand new skirt and coat for me 50p each, piles and piles of children's stuff from Osh Kosh, Next, Gap, Monsoon, Boden, John Lewis, M&S for 20p an item. It takes up 2 mornings a year and is well worth it IMO.

Notalone You will be in Charity Shop Heaven at Collegiate Cresent. On Eccelsall Rd (downhill from Collegiate Cres) you have Oxfam, Cancer Research, Help the Aged and Marie Curie. Also a little vintage shop on Sharrow Vale Rd. Although you'll have to resist Fat Face and White Stuff. Actually think Eccy Rd Oxfam might juts be books and fair trade dried foods now.

Anyway, uphill from Collegiate Cresent, in Broomhill, there's a big Oxfam, Shelter (or Scope, forget which, and a couple of others. That Oxfam does furniture too, where I've got a few nice bits.

There is also an Oxfam Books and Music shop on Glossop Rd/West Street, which is pretty good.

In Leeds, if you can be bothered to go all the way to Headingly, the trendy, wealthy students keep the charity shops well supplied, although I have also picked up some good bits and bats from the Oxfam opposite the Corn Exchange.

Anyone in Newcastle? Oxfam in Acorn Rd, Jesmond kept me well clothed and entertained for the 7 years I lived on less than £6K/year.

My best finds have been in small, fairly affluent towns. Golder's Green in London seems good, but you need to go during the week as many shops are shut on Saturday.

In my mum's town, the book selection is better than the bookshops but the clothes are cheap and crappy. Maybe they send on the good stuff, or now eBay gets it.

I once bought an Alexander McQueen suit jacket in a charity shop in Manchester for £4.50.

I live in a not very salubrious town, and the charity shops here are great. For instance, my winter boots this year are biker style Timberlands, retail price £135, charity shop price £3.50.

The secret of charity shopping is to visit regularly, and enjoy it. If you walk through a door, wrinkle up your nose at the traditional charity shop smell, and aimlessly look at a couple of tops on display you won't find anything you like. You have to get in there, and dig. I love it. But then I'm incredibly mean.

A Pucci scarf - £5 !

I love charity shops.My best bargain last year was a full length midnight blue silk evening dress,beaded all over in blue and silver-with the labels still on at £10.Also a Fenn Wright & Mason silk jacket £5,a silk devore Monsoon evening dress for £7 and a Boden wool dress for £7.I have had so much good stuff,in fact the majority of mine and the dds clothes are charity shop or car boot sale finds.

Melton Mowbray is good,as are Stamford,Oakham ,Market Harborough and Loughborough.Years ago my sister and I drove up to Cheshire and went charity shopping in Wilmslow and got a good haul.I generally find that the posher the area,the better the bargains/quality of cast offs.The only shop that I don't really go into now is BHF,they tend to be very expensive compared to the others.Salvation Army,Cancer Research and the local hospice shop are my favourites.

There is a very affluent area near me and I find the charity shops there pretty crappy tbh.
My best buys have all come from shops in a little town nearby that is really quite average, not rich and not poor if you know what I mean. Got a pair of Monsoon jeans from there just last week for my DD for 75P!

I find ones in student areas are great, also very small ones such as local hospice shops.

Tbh Jumble sales and car boots are far far better than charity shops.

i know i am always banging on about Edinburgh but really the charity shops are fab.Saying that the ones in my small town are not bad sometimes and there is a village 5 miles away where the stuff is dirt cheap. Anyway Morningside in Edinburgh has great charity shops i especially like Cancer research where everthing is on wooden hangers and sied 10 12 etc and the displays are gorgeous .I was there on Saturday and bought some good Vintage stuff for my home .Also Stockbridge in yes you guessed it EdinburghI have a nice home i like to think and it is mostly furnished with charity shop and car boot finds

tbh, I find charity shops are getting quite expensive now. More affluent areas do have nicer stuff but also charge more for them ime. I only pick up real bargains at car boot sales, am thinking of giving jumble sales a try this winter, though am traumatised by the memories of sharp elbowed grannies from my childhood.

But yy to visiting frequently and mid week, tis the only way.

My loca charity shops are vastly expensive! I live in a well off area and can't afford to shop in the charity shops most the time, Oxfam don't sell anything for less than £10 and sometimes have dresses or suits in thier window for £100+!

I have no issue with that and don't see it overpriced, a vintage westwood dress for example should be sold for what it is worth.

There is a problem when charity shops start charging more than the clothes cost new (primark t-shirts for a fiver, anyone?). Then they complain no one will buy them. OTOH, selling stuff too cheap deprives a charity of income. It is a difficult balance, I think.

I also think that charity shops should remember that whilst they are there to make money for their chosen charity, they can also have a positive role in providing good quality clothing for people on low incomes. Makes them doubly good in my view.

in my experience people on low incomes very rarely buy from charity shops and would rather buy top from Asda for $4 than say Boden top from Oxfam for £4 it`s the middle classes who flock to them .Well in the Oxfam i worked in anyway .

Yup, affluent areas are best for clothes. Where I live we have Winchester, Romsey, Lyndhurst to choose from. If it's vinyl or other items I'm looking for, I would go to the town with the most charity shops in it.

The key is to go in often really. I have several in town where I know the volunteers and always give them a cheery hello and they'll keep back anything they think me or the dc will like. One lovely guy kept a Thomas hat for my ds and he was in raptures . I find that most will hold stuff for you if there's anything you're particuarly after. Also, don't be afraid to ask if they have anything out back if you can't see what you're looking for, particuarly occasion wear.
It's worth making the trip to the local dump recycling centre too. Ours was getting so many decent clothes thrown away that they opened a shop in town for them all. Just last week I got a full length Coast dress from there for 15 quid for a ball I'm going to next month :)