Ripping us off big style! (Charity Shops in general)

Member Name: Claribella

Product:	Charity Shops in general
Date:	14/02/09 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can get the odd bargain her and there

Disadvantages: Sooooooo pricey.

Charity shops are often smaller outlets that are dotted around busy parts of town and support a well known charity. They sell all sorts of stuff including clothes, shoes, books, antiques and various other bric-a-brac. A lot of charity shops have their own custom made brand new products that they sell too. For instance the Oxfam shop have little vouchers that you buy which state that you have bought either 100 meals for school children of a shack for a family. They also have things like Fairtrade chocolates or little toys for children.

When I was at Uni I would have to cut through the centre of town to get my bus home. I had a real spending problem and would always pop into a shop and pick up an item of clothing everytime. I went through a phase of having a really good scout around in all of the charity shops and it did end up saving me a lot of dosh back then. I'm not at Uni anymore, I have overcome my urges to spend on pointless things and I no longer go into Charity shops and have a look for couple of reasons:
1) I have two little boys who don't like shopping and I find that the whole thing is quite difficult to do as I have to be tending to them whilst trying to pick up a bargain.
2) All charity shops seem to have a shop floor space of around 2 inches by two inches! I can't even get the pram in the door let alone walk around without actually knocking just about everything off the shelves and getting horrified looks from the old ladies that volunteer.
3) Where are the bargains? I remember the time when I could pick up a top for around 50p. These days most of them are charging ridiculous prices. I'm not a scrooge nor am I unwilling to help out different charities but when they are charging more for a pair of jeans than Primark or Peacocks then I'd rather go to the latter and get it brand new.

If I do make a visit to a charity shop these days then it's usually because my hubby needs a new book although most of time he can get them cheaper on Ebay although saying that we have bought some books for a few pounds from a charity shop and sold it for much more on Ebay. I also like to go in around Christmas time because they have some really nice Christmas cards and novelty gifts that I try to pick up for friends and family.

Verdict.
I think charity shops have become too greedy and charge far to much for second hand things. I know prices need to rise with inflation but this is ridiculous having said that you can pick up a bargain every now and again if you have the time to look. Most of the charity shops around here seem to have been more aware of looking like a junk shop too. They are very well presented lately with the clothes in size order and books in a certain order too so that makes it much easier to look through. It's not somewhere that I like to regularly these days and wouldn't recommend my friends to check them out. I'd rather just make a regular donation to a chosen charity and be done with it.

Summary: Definately not as cheap as they used to be.