Anyone feel that Charity shops are becoming too expensive?

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I've noticed over the last few years charity shops seem to pushing their prices right up, I know it's for a good cause but I always thought that charity shops were there not only to make money for their organisation but also to help the poor in the local community?, perhaps I am wrong in that assumption?

My local Cancer research shop used to be a God send for the poor in our town and has been for me over the years but now it has become so expensive it's actually at times cheaper to purchase items from cash converters or even local retail outlets, when I moved into my new flat I was looking for a set of cheap saucepans for example, £9 in my local charity shop with no lids, Asda, £10 for a brand new stainless steel set and glass lids, now I always usually prefer to use second-hand items rather than buying new, and also the money go's to a good cause but the prices they seem to be charging these days is ridiculous, my local one has used boots and shoes in there for £25, sofa's between £150-£175, chairs for £40, shirts and jeans between £4-5, I never thought I see the day when charity shops become too expense to shop at.
 
cant say ive ever ventured into one.

Any reason why? I've got some bargains out of them over the years, many good books, and decent solid wood furniture rather than chipboard furniture for 4-5 times the prices new, amplifiers, speakers, lamps etc, just a shame they seem to be getting expensive now, I guess not many people on here go into charity shops, although I don't think there is the stigma attached to them like there was in the past.
 
To be fair a fiver for jeans isnt bad at all but yes i know what you mean. i think a lot of it depends on the area the shop is in but certainly i used to work in one sorting the bags etc and designer stuff was pretty much required. i got told to reject "george" and labels like that as they could easily make more of profit on other stuff.

that said even "waste" clothes make money for the shop as they get sold to a rags man.
 
I go into them every now again, mainly scouting for bargains though to be honest. I.e. I bought three of the Harry Potter books about a year back for £1.

Can't say I've really noticed the price go up but then again I don't use them that often. It's probably wrong bargaining? :p
 
They must make a lot of money these places, we have a lot of charity shops in our town, the only cheap one left is the 'Mind Charity' shop, they use the profits from that shop to help fund the local Mind office which is very much needed here, their shop is off the beaten track and they sell most of their items for a couple of pound or less and they made £64,000 last year in profit, love that shop, I got quite a few bit's an pieces from there to kit my flat out when I moved in.

Do charity shops have to pay the same bills/business rates etc as a regular second-hand/thrift store?
 
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More and more of them are looking at British Heart Foundation and wanting to follow suit. BHF is (or perhaps was now) the only 'professional' high street charity shop, and their prices even now reflect that. If you go into a PDSA shop and compare it to a BHF shop you can see a gulf in slick visual merchandising and so on.
 
Do charity shops have to pay the same bills/business rates etc as a regular second-hand/thrift store?

To a point yes, rate relief to non-profit making organisations is discretionary, any utilities will offer a lower rate if you can show you are in fact a charity in most cases.
 
Great for books, almost my entire library is made up of charity shop books.

I don't read much, and when I do it's on the iPad, but yes I suppose they are good for that!

They were a good source of board games when I was younger too, though they never had instructions... :D
 
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