I have been shopping in charity shops for years, literally, and recently there has been an increase in publicity for them, mostly by Mary Portas in her programme Mary Queen of Charity Shops (if you ever see it on TV give it a watch it is an excellent series).
However some are yet to discover the mystique and charm of these little treasure troves. There are many negative preconceptions about them but there are many reasons why you should give charity shops a try, here are just a few:
1. They are cheap - By that I mean the stuff is cheaper than Primark but so much better quality. Items tend to be around 80% cheaper than if they were bought new, which is a massive saving if you are on a budget.
2. Vintage - There is a lot of older items that can be found within the depths of charity shops (and we are talking real vintage here, not just reproduction stuff). It's always worth a look in charity shops before you go to a 'vintage shop' as, like I said above, they tend to be cheaper.
3. You can help out a good cause AND get your fashion fix - Instead of giving your money to big business, why not help out causes in need.
4. High stock turn over - Because people are constantly donating things to charity shops you will find there are always new items to be discovered.
5. Free items - If you get to know your local staff well enough (like I have...) you may be given items for free! Sometimes there are items which they can't sell, such as electrical items and old clothing stock, but are perfectly fine which they have to dispose of, if they know what you like then they may give you things instead of sending them to landfill. Benefits all round, saving the earth and getting something you want!
6. Unique items - Lots of different people donate to charity shops so you can guarantee that clothing will vary in style, shape and colour huge amounts, you can also tend to find foreign items which are largely unavailable in the UK.
7. Old season items - So imagine you saw a top in New Look last season which you loved but when you came to buy it was out of stock - disaster! But you may be able to find it in a charity shop as a pre loved item. Some shops (like Marks and Spencer) donate ex-display stock and end of line items to charity shops as they can no longer sell them in store even though they are new! It sounds crazy doesn't it?!
8. Bartering - If you think something is overpriced then say, they might give you a slight discount. But remember this works the other way too, if you think something is under priced then you should donate more pennies and don't take the wee wee!
9. Eco friendly - This is recycling at it's most basic form, if you buy clothes and reuse them then new materials aren't needed to be wasted for new clothes. Simple :)
So remember to check out your local charity shop whenever you can for some bargains and unique clothing!
