Shopping

NOOOOOO! One of these, and I am soooo not saying which one is the absolute best! Got a 100% Cashmere Pringle Cardigan for £12!!! Oh my Lord. Uh-Mazin.
Will defo go and check out the other ones though. Although not the ones on Ken High Street they are incredibly over priced.
If you like cheap books, antique & new, make a trip to the Book Barn in Somerset (not the one in Bristol). Oh my GOODNESS is is AMAZING. 3 million books apparently and you can just walk about gazing at them all... Excellent day out, just try not to buy everything!

South Kensington and Kensington has the best charity shops - though last week I attended a clothes swap at the Dermalogica store just off Kensington Church Street - I walked away with an Alexander McQueen pencil skirt given by a fellow swapper!! I really enjoyed this swap because the items were great quality!

Im going to the next one on Thursday 9th and whats more all clothes left over go to stock up the Queen Elizabeths Foundations charity shops so i dont feel like im taking my clothes away from the charity shop!
When: Thursday 9th July @ 6pm
Where: Dermalogica store, Lancer square, Kensington Church Street W8 4EH
Book by calling 0800 345 7546 or just come along with clothes ready to swap!

To the person who asked about furniture - a Trinity Hospice Furniture Shop opened in Wandsworth in April of this year & has been so successful it has now doubled in size to 5000 sq ft. A big shop. I volunteer there.
All items for sale are donated, the quality & the quantity reflect that Trinity is the oldest Hospice in England & has been at the same site in South London for 120 years.
Trinity Hospice cares for the dying & all the money goes towards that purpose (excepting running costs).
TRINITY HOSPICE FURNITURE SHOP
Tel: 020 8877 3889
130-138 GARRATT LANE
LONDON SW18 4EE
Map: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl =en&geocode=&q=SW18+4EE&sll=53.800651,-4.06 4941&sspn=12.4489,28.300781&ie=UTF8&ll=51.4 50784,-0.190115&spn=0.006405,0.013819&z=16& iwloc=A
Open 7 days a week:
10:30-5:30 Mon / Tue / Wed / Fri
11:00-7:00 Thursday
10:30-5:00 Saturday
12:00-5:00 Sunday

I don't agree with this list at all. These are all the overpriced, over tidy, sterile ones!
The best charity shops are dusty, messy, jumbly and CHEAP. Only there will you find the unique, the wacky, the trully wonderful finds.
Who wants posh people's out of season threads? No way, give me granny's old jumper and 80s classics any day.
But I'm not telling you where I go, cause then there'd be nothing left for me!

Its true-there are some great bargains in charity shops.I bought a fantastic Tunbull and Asser gingham shirt in Oxfam High Street Kensington the other day, only £4.90 and brand new!

I work in one of the British Red Cross shops and I can confirm that staff are NOT allowed to purchase anything until it has been on the shop floor for 48 hours, and then, we still pay whatever price it has been marked at.

I'm not convinced that volunteers have first refusal on the best donations. I am a regular shopper at Cancer Research UK Muswell Hill (the one opposite Starbucks) and they have a fabulous range of mint condition high-end designer clothing. The volunteers are young and stylish and I'm sure, if they could, would look fab dressed in some of what they have on sale. This store has a fantastic window display that draws people in from far and wide. I love it!!!

I agree with jackie that you should really volunteer in a shop before commenting on possible staff discounts. It should be a perk. Not only is it hard work but it can also be dangerous and disgusting when you see what people "donate" to stores. I have before worked through a bin-bag of clothes and found a large unsheathed knife among them, thankfully by the handle. Broken glass, used and dirty clothes and underwear. It's not all sitting around drinking tea and talking about the WI.

I went into Crusaid on my lunch today, there was nothing in there. Two rails of clothes and a few books. Well designed shop but no substance.

After Mary Portas' recent TV programme highlighted the huge cost to charities of paying to dispose of unsaleable goods, I hope donors will think twice about the quality of donations. It is true that many people use the charity shop as more convenient than a trip to the tip. 25% only of what was donated was saleable at the shop where Portas filmed: that is ridiculous.
I know someone who works in a charity shop and, while she obviously gets first look at donations, she is not allowed to buy items until they are priced according to their price guideline book.
I would urge anyone who has never tried charity shopping to give it a go: you can get some big bargains, the hunt for an item is good fun (an addictive!), you are giving money to a good cause, and keeping materials out of landfill.

Jay Gee is talking a load of rubbish. The charity element works both ways - charity shops have both a responsibility to raise money for the charity they represent, and also to provide the local community with a place to buy inexpensive clothes (which is a basic right). The idea that people shouldn't expect 'expensive items at cheap prices' is an incredibly silly one, typical of an economic system where prices are arrived at by what well-off people are prepared to pay rather than by real worth. Attitudes like those of Mr Gee are unfortunately symptomatic of the apathy of Britain in the 21st century. We ought to be ashamed at our selfishness. People will find somewhere to buy cheap clothes - and without any alternative, that somewhere will be Primark - an enterprise which exploits and abuses its workers (both home and abroad) to produce low quality items from unsustainable resources which very quickly end up in landfill.

having worked as a volunteer myself I would like to give some input. Some Charity shops do have people who grab the best stuff first. Most of the workers though love getting good items to sell for the charity shop. Most charity shop managers have to supass sales figures so the better quality items enable them to do this. Charity now is a business not a charity which is why they have paid managers in the first place. There is much competing going on between shops and charities alike.
As for volunteers - I think all those who complain about them getting perks should go and work as a volunteer and see how hard some of them work. Compared to any job I have ever undertaken this was the hardest job in terms of physical work. However, it was also very enjoyable.
Many young people are sent from work employment agencies and Job centre to do volunteer work in these shops and they do not have the choice as they will lose money if they do not attend. There are some who just don't want to work but I also believe others are not treated correctly and depending on the manager, exploited. There are no rules and regulations in Charity Shops with regard to complaints etc from staff so a bad manager can exploit people easily and get away with this as few volunteers will make an official complaint but will just not return.
Some charities allow their staff a small discount on goods. Quite honestly they deserve it as they work extremely hard for nothing, and not always by choice. When the manager gets paid as do some assistant managers and even assistants then those who do most of the work should be allowed a small tribute like a discount on goods they have helped to put out for the paying customer.
As I said, those who don't agree should go and work for a charity and then make a snap judgement.
Everyone who I worked with was shocked at just how hard it is to keep a charity shop going.
Sorting, steaming, ticketing, pricing, moving the shop around constantly as per guidance from area managers, stock taking of all new goods in shops which sell them, culling clothes, bric a brac and books, pricing books individually. Measuring and cubing clothes, putting the clothes out on a daily basis with targets to meet for this. Carrying heavy bags. The work is never done!! Believe me I know.

I dont have a lot of money to spend but I would rather give my money to charity than to Primark for example. They shouldnt give the goods away for nothing. Charities do work that costs money to do and the shops have to pay lighting etc like anyone else. Some shops have paid managers also and often where they have a manager is where the prices will be higher as there will be a pricing policy.
I find shops staffed by volunteers often charge less so it is worth looking around.
As for staff taking stuff I am sure they dont as I have often seen my stuff on sale after. One volunteer in my save the choldren shop told me they werent allowed to buy the donated stock.

British Red Cross is amazing- I found a prada purse there yesterday and there were just some amazing things in general. My friend found a missoni dress and she bought this designer top which is gorgeous!

Queenie Montgomery is rightly concerned about the prices which charity shops charge for items which they receive free. However, their purpose is to sell as expensively as possible in order to raise as much money as possible for their charity or good cause. It is not their function to be charitable to anyone who comes in, and it would be a misuse of donors' intentions to sell donations cheaply. No-one (whether unemployed or elderly, etc.) should think that they are entitlted to expensive items at cheap prices, just because they want them. Unfortunately some people do not understand the difference between a charitable enterprise (raising money), and receiving charity (benefiting from the deeds of others).