Quality in black bags

Today was “rag man” day, we have a rag company who come with a lorry and take away the stock we can’t sell and recycles it, some to Europe I think and the rest into factories -they pay us per bag and send a cheque each month and this goes onto our sales. Our rag man is a nice chap, quite tall with a little beard; I always want to call him a trucker. I think his name is chiz or chez. He has a really strong Barnsley accent and usually wears shorts and boots and often moans about the quality and size of black bags, I do understand his frustration they split and burst open making twice the work. I just never invested that much interest into black bags but since learning about them I understand the importance of a quality refuse sack.

We have a volunteer called Christine, she’s retired and she used to work in Bettys Tea rooms incidentally, and worked at those in York, Harrogate and Harlow Carr she rolls her eyes when I tell people this as I’m a massive fan of Bettys, infact I might start calling her Betty. She speaks very posh, she’s fantastic with customers and goes out of her way to help them. I like her to work on the till and be in the shop so the customers know we are an “up-market” and posh charity shop which of course we are J 

We’ve had loads of donations this week! Sometimes you turn around and someone’s dropped off their entire contents of the wardrobe, it can all come at once and then all of a sudden we don’t get anything! It can be random at times though such as when people leave tins of beans in the bags amongst other things... we are grateful for everything we receive. It’s great when we get really nice and quirky donations, the best one this week was a vintage jumper with sheep on it, I thought that was cute and I’ve seen similar at vintage stalls and it can be frustrating when people don’t get the fashion or the “idea” behind what you’re doing but putting that jumper in the right place or town it would sell straight away. That’s why it’s important to know your market and customers when offering them a service and choice.





We’ve also had some designer bags donated this week - a bright pink D&G handbag and a little white Prada Make-up bag, some vintage costume jewellery in a box and a little D&G patent black purse. I like to display them in the window and dress the mannequins to match the accessories we have in at the time so it makes an impact. We have a lot of competition from shops like New Look, Dorothy Perkins and of course other charity shops so we have to keep up with the trends and quality.

In this photo, a window display with a brand new Next perfume gift set, the vintage jewellery, Miss Selfridges kitten heel shoes and the D&G Purse.