Plenty o' Clarity in the Charity (General Charity Shops)

Member Name: funzo

Product:	General Charity Shops
Date:	02/10/08 (276 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap Bargains to be had and supporting good causes

Disadvantages: too few for my liking.

To celebrate my 20th Review, I thought I should write about something dear to my heart.... No, not Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, pride of North London but indeed charity shops....although, sadly comparisons of the two can be drawn...both seem to full of old useless cast offs that no one wants at the moment

My love affair with charity shops wasn't always as it is. As a young kid, in a busy high street where you knew everyone, the last thing you wanted, was to be seen being dragged inside the Barnardos or the Spastic Society by your mum which for me was the case. It was as a nerdish 8 year old that I started stamp collecting supplied wholly by mother from various buys from charity shops she would visit, wherever she would go. As I got older she would buy me books and occasionally the odd Sergio Tacchini T-shirt that I would pass off as new, and it was about this time that I started to really go into the shops myself, albeit in the fake moustache and glasses disguise.... well, I was still a teenager at least trying to be what I thought was cool, and the love affair began..........

The basic premise of the charity shops is to sell on donated items to raise money for their various causes. You get many types, some local and others national and international, some of the larger chains include Oxfam, Mencap, and Age Concern. If you go along most high streets anywhere in the UK you generally get at least one charity shop tucked between the many faceless Superdrugs, Boots and WH Smiths that are doing their best to make the high streets of Norwich the same as that of Newcastle. The location of the charity shops does bear influence upon what it sells. In my experience what can bought in the charity shops of affluent North London is totally different to what can be bought in Watford. Here lies the beauty; no two shops anywhere in the country have the same stock. With every new charity shop you go into there is the chance of finding that Penny Black, that Clarence Cliff, that Paul Smith, or even that Shoot Annual from 1982. An undiscovered Aladdin's cave waiting to be explored, albeit with a strong musty smell.

In the harsh economic times that we are experiencing, people are tightening belts and turning to charity shops more than ever before. Like everywhere prices seem to have gone up particularly in the national and international chains of charity shops and, whilst I do not begrudge paying the money whatsoever, my preference generally is to support the more local charities as they tend to be cheaper (25p per book in my local compared to up to £5 in Oxfam), and the money raised, for local causes, does not get swallowed up by admin costs.

Each shop entered is a blank canvas. I go in with an open mind and a willingness to spend a couple of quid on something i probably dont need or will ever read. Over the years, i have bought pianos and sets and skis ...and just about everything inbetween. I am an unashamed hoarder....after all you never know when that game of Buckaroo bought for 20p will come into use! I have a study full of books that would put some small librarys to shame.... i know for a fact that my local library does not have the Shoot 1982 Annual.

Get yourself down to your local charity shops, grab yourself a bargain that you either will or will not need, because it'll still be a bargain anyway... And... you'll be helping raise money for good causes. Two birds, one stone. :)

Thanks for reading

Summary: Charity Shops - The review