Just call me charity

I’ve been for a stroll in a well known town today, it’s just right. It has a main street, nice restaurants a lovely Abbey and..wait for it lots of charity shops! Yay I’m in heaven..or not. When you have numerous charity shops all in one area, from a customer’s point of view it can be a little bit of a rollercoaster ride.

The standards vary. A lot! You can go into one that looks a little shabby on the outside but inside it is set out lovely, colour co-ordinated is always nice on the eyes and smells fresh, which can be difficult when you deal with second hand clothes not because they are dirty but because they have sometimes been left a long time in an garage or attic and become a little musty, that’s why we steam the clothes and use air fresheners (my favourite things in the whole world) in the shop and good ventilation all help, most people don’t notice but I do. I sniff first before I look around. I had a good mooch around today bought a few things, but some of the more “high profile” shops are not as nice inside as some of the other charities, it's almost like they become complacent with it yet they could be sat on a goldmine! Their windows leave lots to desire and they don’t display their stock to maximum effect.

I went into one charity shop that resembled ours inside, nice layering of winter jackets with jumpers and funky scarves, little denim waistcoats over vintage 60s blouses. It’s all in the detail and this is what makes the difference - an active interest in merchandising and accessorising the stock is a key skill to obtain and it’s very important as people are more often than not-  V-I-S-U-A-L. Give them a feast for the eyes.

Can I just lay something to rest for some readers that may believe that all stock in a charity shop was previously owned by a deceased person, this couldn’t be further from the truth its nearly always women who have just had a ruffle through their wardrobes and had clear out or a clothes swapping party and want to donate to charity some of it is even current season stock with labels.

I’d say only 5% of what we have donated has the label on but sometimes people rip the tags off and don’t even wear and we end up with it so you’d be very hard pressed to actually find something that has been donated in from a house clearance of the deceased. Although we are grateful for that too that’s where we get our vintage ranges from! Recycling - were well ahead in the game. 5 years ago lots of stock would have been ragged now you see vintage boutiques and retro wholesalers popping up like daffodils in spring. If you go to Lincoln City, which is lovely by the way, there are some amazingly beautiful vintage shops which always inspire me. Market research is important too even for us charity retailers.