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London’s best charity shop

By Izzi Whelan
June 9, 2009 at 2:52 pm

It’s been a great couple of weeks for our charity shops. Shopping guru Mary Portas – whose attempt to transform a Kent charity shop continues on BBC2 tonight – has picked out the Red Cross shop in Chelsea as one of London’s best charity shops in this week’s Time Out magazine.

As Mary points out, in a recession charity shops are an especially great source of cheap, fashionable clothes, and the Chelsea shop – our vintage and designer specialist shop – offers some fantastic finds. But like all our charity shops, it relies on donations.

And research shows that donations have been falling as the financial crisis continues. Our shops desperately need more donations so we’ve got enough stock meet demand – and raise more money to support the Red Cross’ work in the UK and across the globe.

Lots of people are cutting back on buying new things and hanging onto their clothes a little longer. But we’ve probably all got clothes we never wear hiding at the back of our wardrobes, so why not let someone else give it a new lease of life by donating it to one of our shops?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Fundraising and events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://www.charity-christmas-cards.co.uk/ Gary

    I just recently read a post where a Charity shop had a mid Christmas sale (in July) and had Santa in the window, they did a roaring trade but apparently upset a few people reminding them about Christmas so early!

    Perhaps this kind of thing might be worth a try for the shops with falling sales, which I am guessing is most. People need to know there are places in these financial hard times where they can still find great things and benefit the community at the same time they are making savings for themselves. ? Just a thought.

    Cheers

    Gary

  • http://www.charity-christmas-cards.co.uk/ Gary

    I just recently read a post where a Charity shop had a mid Christmas sale (in July) and had Santa in the window, they did a roaring trade but apparently upset a few people reminding them about Christmas so early!

    Perhaps this kind of thing might be worth a try for the shops with falling sales, which I am guessing is most. People need to know there are places in these financial hard times where they can still find great things and benefit the community at the same time they are making savings for themselves. ? Just a thought.

    Cheers

    Gary

  • http://www.ourgreenerglobe.com/ Michael Filewood

    Thanks for the article, what you say is very true, about half the of the clothes in my wardrob have not been used in the last 10 years.

  • http://www.ourgreenerglobe.com Michael Filewood

    Thanks for the article, what you say is very true, about half the of the clothes in my wardrob have not been used in the last 10 years.

  • http://www.the-gas-station.co.uk/ James Kravitz

    I totally agree with the other comments about charity shops out pricing them selves. I’, disabled and on a low budget and i used to rely on the charity shops. but now its worth going into ordinary shops, as iv found they are cheaper. even when the sales are on ordinary shops are still a lot cheaper. how sad.

  • http://www.the-gas-station.co.uk/ James Kravitz

    I totally agree with the other comments about charity shops out pricing them selves. I’, disabled and on a low budget and i used to rely on the charity shops. but now its worth going into ordinary shops, as iv found they are cheaper. even when the sales are on ordinary shops are still a lot cheaper. how sad.

  • http://www.outperformingyourself.com/ Nadz

    I agree on this Article. Now a days all the charity Shops which are running on Donations are in a big threat because of the Global Financial Crisis.
    Also i agree on Michael too. Even 50% of the clothes in my wardrobe is of no use at all. I just use few clothes most of the time. Most of them have not been used for a long time

  • http://www.outperformingyourself.com/ Nadz

    I agree on this Article. Now a days all the charity Shops which are running on Donations are in a big threat because of the Global Financial Crisis.
    Also i agree on Michael too. Even 50% of the clothes in my wardrobe is of no use at all. I just use few clothes most of the time. Most of them have not been used for a long time

  • http://www.j-ext.com/ Rachel Fernandeze

    Interesting article. Many of my clothes are also still in my wardrobe. Some of which I’ve only used twice or thrice. Recently I decided to give them away to charity shops. And boy was I stunned about the prices offered.

  • http://www.j-ext.com/ Rachel Fernandeze

    Interesting article. Many of my clothes are also still in my wardrobe. Some of which I’ve only used twice or thrice. Recently I decided to give them away to charity shops. And boy was I stunned about the prices offered.

  • http://www.discountfires.com/Cat/Flueless-Fire/ Herbert Harmon

    Agreed, I’ve got large amounts of clothes that are just lying about in my wardrobe too, when you decide to go hand it over for charity, it amazes you as to how much higher it is priced than you originally thought it would be!

  • http://www.discountfires.com/Cat/Flueless-Fire/ Herbert Harmon

    Agreed, I’ve got large amounts of clothes that are just lying about in my wardrobe too, when you decide to go hand it over for charity, it amazes you as to how much higher it is priced than you originally thought it would be!

  • Anita Fernandeze

    Interesting article. Well I guess the prices depend mostly on the area and the shop. Because to be frank at our local charity shop prices are not that high. As an pricing scheme I think it depends on the area.

  • Anita Fernandeze

    Interesting article. Well I guess the prices depend mostly on the area and the shop. Because to be frank at our local charity shop prices are not that high. As an pricing scheme I think it depends on the area.

  • http://www.skyscraperarchive.com Michael Filewood

    Fingers crossed the world’s economies are starting to show signs of recovery but I think the lessons have not been learned unfortunately.

  • http://www.skyscraperarchive.com/ Michael Filewood

    Fingers crossed the world’s economies are starting to show signs of recovery but I think the lessons have not been learned unfortunately.

  • http://helpwithbowling.com/ jessica fernandiaz

    That’s really a great article. Well we have few shops here as well and some prices are really out of this world. Really awesome prices. most of the time I donate my clothes to them.

  • http://helpwithbowling.com/ jessica fernandiaz

    That’s really a great article. Well we have few shops here as well and some prices are really out of this world. Really awesome prices. most of the time I donate my clothes to them.

  • http://www.humanityca.org/ Habitat for Humanity Los Angel

    I read about this charity shop. I love how it is like thrift shops in the states here. I think it’s just wonderful how everyone can get together for a good cause! Keep up the great work with your site!

  • http://www.humanityca.org/ Habitat for Humanity Los Angeles

    I read about this charity shop. I love how it is like thrift shops in the states here. I think it’s just wonderful how everyone can get together for a good cause! Keep up the great work with your site!

  • adam

    the charity shops is not for which one is the best they are for helping people

  • adam

    the charity shops is not for which one is the best they are for helping people

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Izzi Whelan

Izzi wrote about fundraising for the British Red Cross, but she's now working overseas.

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The British Red Cross values comments both complimentary and critical. However, we will not tolerate the following: aggressive or personal criticism of the blogger, breach of copyright, obscene, defamatory, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive or likewise objectionable comments.

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