Fan club

I’m starting to think I could set up my own fan club. I seem to have acquired a few admirers and inadvertently divulged parts of my life I may have otherwise remained private.

I don’t mean dark secrets (my life is unfortunately not that exciting) but getting to know staff and customers, I think is key to forming a strong working relationship.

I have cakes baked for me on a regular basis by a kind Indian lady, clothes mended, thank you cards, chocolates, courtesy phone calls..

I do receive the odd (in every sense of the word) phone call regarding my advice on men dressing in ladies clothes, you always have to remain polite because it may be a genuine question but quite often it’s not. Sigh.

Everyone knows my name apart from you reader, but at the shop it’s a nice thing people can address you by your name and sometimes ask for me personally.

But if I’m in the back room which sometimes I don’t think they realise that I have a lot of work to do, processing stock, paperwork, helping other volunteers etc. I spend an equal time on the shop floor but it’s not always possible or practical all the time especially if we have lots of staff working in there too! I sometimes hear them joking that “I’m hiding”.
 
I could be you know!

Justice is served

It’s been a stressful week but constructive. Last weekend we had some video games stolen, on Monday a police offer entered the shop with a brown paper bag full of video games with our stickers and gift aid references on them. So we were able to immediately identify them!
We matched them up to our records and we had no record of this sale which became evidence the police could use to charge the offender.

People still find it so hard to believe people shoplift from a charity shop!

On a more light-hearted topic we have experienced a couple of really busy weeks in the shop, some nice donations brought in and people seem happy to spend!
Lots of new customers and younger people are coming in who I’m finding are buying more than they used to – probably because we are offering affordable fashion which can be mixed and matched with high streets purchases.

The shop attracts a diverse range of customers, students with a limited budget buying in bulk, small clothes businesses such as vintage shops stocking up with our selections and the more established customer with probably more disposable income who finds charity shop retailing quite a novel and addictive pursuit.

We welcome all into the shop and hope they continue to support the charity, not only with their donations but also their custom.

Love Donor

I promised you a love story and you shall have one. Not a mills and boon but more of an unexpected twist, a chance event....fate.
It is a sweet story in fact, a story that proves it’s never too late to find love.

A few years ago a gentleman of a mature age became a regular afternoon customer: a tall man, educated and a well of random information of stories and adventures. Anything you want to know he knows it, anything you want to do he's done it, anywhere you want to go he's going.

He would stand for a good hour or so while the shop evolved around him, he would start a conversation, you could walk away and come back and it would still be in progress which made for a very friendly and approachable man.
His time spent in the shop resulted in him taking a volunteer post. I figured he would be great for customer service and he has since proved invaluable.

The story goes on that in the meantime it also struck me he was a bit of ladies man and women seemed to enjoy this harmless banter. One lady in particular, another one of our volunteers, a very sophisticated and classy lady. He would pop his head through the door on a Friday afternoon when he knew she would be working and say hello, she would glance away, coy all the while enjoying the attention.Time went by until one late afternoon he stood in the doorway with a bunch of flowers, I think they were a mixed spray but still rather lovely and fragrant. He presented her with the flowers accompanied with this usual cheeky grin and asked her out for a drink, she took no time in deciding and said yes immediately. The following day she came into work very happy and like a school girl after her first date and said he had been a gentleman.

Now they work together as a team two days a week, front of house helping customers, signing people up to gift aid, keeping the shop tidy, greeting customers and doing displays.
They are a real pleasure to work with, they really do make a difference to the shop! One thing I like to see is when they leave work I sometimes go outside and catch them walking down the street hand in hand and I’m so happy the shop helped two people find each other. It proves no matter your age or where you might find it, love is only around the corner!
Or in a shop for that matter!

You never know what you might find in a charity shop...

World Autism Awareness Day 2013 Reprise

One thing I noticed this year which I have never noticed before and probably something to do with the “world” part of things is everyone is getting in on the act, celebrities spreading the word on Twitter, high profile people that have family and children with Autism are increasing awareness.

When I first started working for Autism Plus the charity was known, but mainly to families directly connected to Autism and the difference now is that everyone has heard of Autism and wants to learn more, I suppose you could say it’s gone global!

I am happy to announce we now sell funky pin badges in the shops and on Ebay to promote Autism Plus, pin one on to your Barbour jacket - it really adds to it.

A-U-T-I-S-M. Memorise it, learn a jingle whatever just know it.

For our part in Autism Awareness Day we recruited two charming volunteer helpers who we thanked with a bag of sweets.
With the help of one of our volunteers we organised an outdoor Tombola stall outside the market which the council were very nice in allowing us to do this at short notice because you need to have permission for these type of things you know.

They were helped by other volunteers and raised £100! Which is fantastic considering how cold and windy it was and they were situated in a tunnel area which wasn’t ideal. I did find it funny that a lady bought some tickets and won a fluorescent/glow in the dark cat collar - I have no idea why this was a prize and it really made me laugh because she didn’t have a cat but she took it anyway and said she would find a use for it? The mind boggles!
We ended the week by holding a cake stall inside the shop where a volunteer’s daughter made the most delicious rice krispie cakes and easter biscuits with mini eggs on them. (Easter was at the same time)

We also had gluten free buns, we found out lots of children who came into the shop had to have gluten free food products and one mum was really happy because her little girl misses out on lots of things, so loads of effort from the team and lots of smiley faces :)
It has been a positive year for the shop and going forward I hope it gets even better and people continue to support us.
Ps we now offer Loyalty cards for people that donate so get donating your old clothes and reap the rewards! Oh I do love stamping the cards!

Welcome back readers

First of all on behalf of everyone reading this I want to wish you a huge belated Happy New Year! Although we’re half way through it now so you may take it as premature Happy New Year for 2014!

In any case sorry I have taken my time in updating the blog, trust me lots has been going on and all very positive. Some of which I’ll share with you in the following weeks and I will try and dedicate myself to submitting more frequently and consistently.

We have all been REALLY busy! In the past year or so we have had a few new members to the team, a love story, introduction of GIFTAID, a new carpet, a visit from Viking FM & a re-tweet on Twitter from Jennifer Saunders - how cool is that?!
The power of Twitter it’s taking over the world. Did you know Autism Plus is on twitter? @autism_plus follow & spread the word! #wordup

We also recently had a successful Autism World Awareness day and as that was my last blog topic before my one year hiatus, so it is fitting to start it back on that! Oh and I promised you a love story I will get to that soon........Stay tuned!

Mona Lisa edit

We had an idea the other day. Well I had seen it in a high street retailer in York where they used an old painting in an easel and in bright pink paint painted over it with “spring stock NEW ARRIVALS” I thought it was brilliant. It was an old landscape scene with trees and sheep you know the normal.

Can I just add I in no way endorse graffiti but once on a trip to Rome whilst taking an evening stroll with a guide one of the other visitors pointed out the graffiti on the city walls and asked why they didn’t remove it, the guide simply replied in a swish Italian accent “We look at it as art”. Enough said.

But I wonder if Leonardo would object to someone sprawling “Free buns with every cuppa” across the Mona Lisa leant against a makeshift cafe outside the Louvre. Then again she has survived being shot at.

We had an old print in the shop in a tatty frame. We checked it for value etc plus it was damaged so we used some orange paint and painted in bright colours VINTAGE.

We have placed it on a shelf above our vintage clothes section - it does look very effective but has been met with mixed response and an occasional gasp but overall it’s positive.  I look at it as creativity and modern thinking and actually this sort of thing has been done for years I remember seeing an artist painting a scene in a very large flagship Topman store.

Vintage clothing as I have said before do generate a lot of interest and if you create a section dedicated to it you attract a whole new shopper without compromising the integrity of the rest of the shop.

I have been to vintage fares in the past and let me tell you there is a lot of money spent! The last time I went to one they had two 1950s pin up girls with a basket of candy floss and a DJ spinning vintage war time tracks mixed with contemporary dub step. Great atmosphere – not saying I am going to start blasting out dirty bass beats featuring the velvet tones of Vera Lynn belting “We’ll meet again” ....

I don’t think so Autism Plus shoppers you have been saved!

Second Hand Illness

Today I feel ill. I sometimes wonder if everything we get donated in is actually visible. What I mean by this is sometimes I think maybe people donate their germs. My immune system must be pretty stable and well stocked seeming as though I’m coming into contact with the public every day and their donated belongings.

We steam the clothes after hanging them to make them look presentable and I think it must release some allergens. I always get allergens, endorphins and dolphins mixed up I don’t know why as they are nothing alike.

I am definitely more sensitive to sprays and fragrances than I used to be but this is the same in any place you work, for example if you work in an office you are technically inhaling everyone’s recycled oxygen through the air conditioning unit. Same difference really you can’t hide from micro organisms, neither can you see them - they are sneaky devils!

Anyway onwards and upwards as my Gran used to say. We're not doing too bad here at the shop steady with fits and starts (another one of my Grans old sayings) we can be quiet and then it’s like a coach trip arrives.

The recent snow has had a funny effect on people they all seem hyper and incoherent, babbling wrecks muttering useless jargon everywhere I really don’t know what’s going on, is there something in the snow?

On the way to work a lorry had lost its load and caused massive delays, daredevil  1.2 Corsa drivers overtaking in freezing fog and people walking their dogs (without tartan check coats) at 6am - has the world gone mad? Admittedly I do like snow and have enjoyed walking in it, it just can be a pain travelling in it and I think that’s why I’m ill, I have exhausted myself by walking. 

It’s also been my birthday this week so I’ve had a lovely white snowy birthday I will not disclose my age as it is getting painful but let’s just say everyone here at the shop has been lovely and remembered and made real efforts with homemade cards and wine (not homemade shame I hear it’s very potent!!) and even some of our customers have brought in cards.

We sell quite a lot of craft, card making and textile books for bustling crafty fanatics and sometimes they bring in their creations for us to sell - for example a customer with disabilities makes us beautiful homemade cards to sell in our shop and they sell very well. It’s a real pleasure to be able to offer this service and sell them in our shops to make money for a great cause, a real endorphin moment!

Plug me In to 2012

Here at Autism Plus all the retail shops have been implemented with computers and the World Wide Web. It is proving very useful.

We can make our own posters, signs, keep spreadsheets of data and forms and do research on items for price checks etc. It’s all very modern but I must admit I quite liked the novelty of working in a place where this it could still be 1940 - well in the back anyway with a wireless.

I fear like anything else as soon as its modern it’s outdated and we can’t keep up. The main obstacle was finding a suitable place for this equipment as it is very sensitive and at home I’ve often found myself contemplating throwing mine through the window when it crashes and pops up with a blue screen of death. The situation is that it’s such a small premises there isn’t room to swing a cat without hurting someone or the cat, so it was a real challenge. Thankfully we were innovative and created a space and in doing so created an oasis of paperwork, files and pin boards.

It’s a real micro office now I can even sit down which is not sarcasm it is a real treat. But there was drama we couldn’t use the card machine at first as we weren’t supplied a splitter? Or something like that and our printer broke it started crunching and eating the paper it turned into a cannibal printer.

One of the guys from IT whizzed over on his motorbike with a printer in his POD and whipped it into shape. I’ve sent a number of emails now so I’m well and truly plugged in!

Return of the Blog

Belated and bloated Happy New Year!
Happy New Year and all that jazz!! I do like Jazz and the little Jazzies you can buy from the sweet shop up the road. It is very quaint and old fashioned with lots of vintage items on the shelves such as old weighing scales and what not. They often buy items from us for their displays, we are a real community shop!

But as we're in the spirit of new year and resolutions (probably most have been broken by now I just keep moving the goal posts of mine) then I’m resisting the ye olde fashioned sweet shop and thinking about, above and beyond my waist as I hardly recognise myself these days along with my ever changing hair colour, I remind myself of the “horse of a different colour” from the Wizard of Oz as I walk through a door my hair changes hair colour, seriously I do cause a stir when I dye it and it’s not even bright colours just alternates between blonde to dark brown as a rule.

Anyway I’m enrolling myself into a food diary keeping course which basically means I write everything down I eat so will be full pretty quickly. It is hard work mind, working in such close proximity to us: the oxygen is slowly replaced by air particles consisting of pastries and pasties.

Talking about smells one of the volunteers who I happen to work recently informed me she has lost her sense of smell and call still smell peoples breath but not things like sausage rolls and tulips (what an odd combination). This made me feel semi uncomfortable and self conscious as I had eaten a sausage roll and it was bloomin’ lovely and worried she may detect the smell of it on my breath and detect it that way?

The body is a funny thing and so are people, no wonder people study other people so much it must be a ongoing experiment socially, biologically and every other alley you can discover a lot about people by working here.

Like when people say in the shop when they pick something up they think would suit their friend and bellow out “Ooooh thats right up ya alley Bev!” where did that phrase come from and what does it mean being up someone’s alley!  I don’t know for sure.

I am now joined to the world of the twitterish and follow a group called “Random Useless Facts” which is pretty useful as I’m learning something because everything else I obviously know! Thanks for reading me oh and my other new year’s resolution is to learn French, bonjour et au revoir!!

The Kings Ring

Well not long to the first Noel, a few months and it will all be over. I’ve started already on my shopping. I found a cute shop local to me selling little knick knacks and vintage inspired gifts and I’ve made a start there a bloomin good start. Can I point you in the direction of http://www.collardmanson.com while I remember it is actually my favourite shop and the reason why I’m promoting it on here is many things they stock are similar to some items we receive over the door that are not in any way associated with our charity (although they are welcome to donate if they wished, what a dream that would be for our customers). When I say similar what I mean is I had a wander in their Meadowhall stall as you do, I couldn’t help but be drawn in by its magical pull they stock lots of bespoke items such as candle holders, candle sticks, glass wear, clothing, textiles etc and its inspiring because we could display and market some of our items in a more creative way (I touched on this in the last blog) and it’s amazing that some of the things on offer in stores like this are “one off” vintage inspired items where as we on the other hand sometimes have very old or unwanted bric a brac and ornaments which would fit nice in the right setting, the world is changing and people need to see the potential in recycling and looking at things in another way. I’ve picked part of their vision “We only stock what we believe in”   which is a great line don’t you think?

A little bit like us as a manager we have to “cherry pick” the stock and offer our customers good value and good choice that we believe to be true. Charity shops have the potential to be whatever they want to be as long as they have the right attitude.

Footnotes

“The Kings Ring” note: the king of Jerusalem/First Noel, Reference to William and Kates Marriage when the ring nearly didn’t fit, our silver ring, a kings ring where people battle out their differences, conflict between people”

The case of the missing febreeze plug in

The other day I went into work after my day off and the shop didn’t have its usual lovely ocean breeze smell. Hmm I thought suspicious, so I looked down at the plug socket which was discreetly covered by a large cardboard box full of knitting patterns and I pulled it away to reveal....NOTHING.

Someone had unplugged our air freshener and stole it. I know this because none of the other staff had moved it. I was so shocked, then disheartened and then ultimately angry. Why would someone stoop so low (literally) i mean whats the world coming to...having to lock up your air fresheners, or worse alarm them. Goodness me.
Anyway rant over, last Monday we had a retail meeting, I use the word “Retail” as we are encouraged to drop the charity shop label and use Retail Shop instead which I like as it is more present and current.

More charities are using this term to describe their shops. It’s a good move but it's still perfectly ok to call them charity shops - we sell items that have been donated by kind people like yourselves which is charitable and we make money to help our charity which is very important to moving forward.

Can I just say though more and more people are stopping donating and doing car boots instead to make quick money, this is a little bit saddening  and makes it more important people that people continue to donate to charities as we still offer a great bargain and you are making a difference to a cause.

On the other hand its often very surprising people’s generosity, we have had some lovely donations lately including a nice hand painted vase which we sold for a good price, old antique clocks, vintage tea sets and more. It's great to be able to displays these creatively, for example we used an old CD rack and transformed it into a scarf rail by tying scarves and belts on, other shops I’ve seen using old rails and painting them in kitsch colours such as baby powder and blue with the organisations logo on them. I’ve seen antique mirrors draped in jewellery, old antique chests of drawers with scarves and hats peeping out the draws tempting customer’s imaginations.

I love all this free thinking creatively and if the people and charities embrace this it’s such a step forward into the modern merchandising world such as a time like this when the current demand and boom is for “other world, old fashioned” bespoke ideas and items. I use this in a loose term and many phrases have been coined to this effect and that just goes to show anything goes! 

So I look forward to the future of display as it keeps growing and growing, forget the stolen plug in.

I love the image below imagine a lovely tree like this in our shops covered in jewels and diamonds!!!!!

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.

9am confession

I want to make a confession. I don’t throw Bibles away. It’s funny people who don’t believe in god in times of hardship and despair call upon the Bible. I’m not saying we are going to give away free bibles with every purchase but I do think it’s something we can’t always put a price on. We often receive donations of high interest and age a few months ago I blogged about a 200 year old Bible, how do you put a price on religion and faith?

This large plaque of Jesus Christ nailed to a cross was donated to one of our volunteers this morning as she was waiting outside, she is a very keen lady and has once or twice been spotted waiting at 8:30am - we don’t open until 9 so I have advised her to stay in bed a little longer but she say’s she likes to wait..wait? wait for what? Armageddon? A train? The new argos catalogue? I still don’t know what she’s waiting for, she actually looks like one of the Queens Guard/Secret Agent she stands very upright and firm and with dark glasses, she appears quite imposing and there is always donations beside her. I’m sure if she stood there all day people would just pile donations on her and she wouldn’t move, which suggests the rest of the week they are stolen so I try to get there earlier now.

Back to my original story we have put Jesus in the window and I hope he goes to a very happy home. Do you know some people call their children or even more surprisingly animals Jesus...Oh lord.

Back in my day....

You hear a lot of people saying “oh back in my day we didn’t have new clothes we had to “make do and mend” and we didn’t have charity shops, look at this Edith it’s hardly been worn its lovely” I used to roll my eyes, this has changed.

Since visiting Eden Camp Museum in Malton I spent a good few hours there and learnt a copious amount about how back during World War 2 people lived and feared for their lives and more importantly how they survived. After this experience, I have a new found respect and interest that maybe I didn’t have before and it proves that its ignorance why many people maybe don’t respect the past.

Whilst walking around I kept noticing items that sometimes pass through our hands at the charity shop, jugs, singer sewing machines, hats, tools, old wooden toys, medicine bottles etc all the sorts of things your Mums, Dads Granddads and Grandmas would have used and played with and maybe kept after the war as a “souvenir” and it amazed me how much history and rarity can pass through the paths of charity shops. I was definitely surprised and a little annoyed we hadn’t kept hold of these artefacts. We are becoming more savvy and learning more about these almost other worldly goods as we should, we have a duty to Autism Plus to make sure these are sold at the correct and fair values as people who donate the items want as much for them as possible or else they wouldn’t donate to charity.

I saw medicine bottles for ailments such as “purifying the blood” & “boils and spots” and “feeling under the weather” imagine a bottle for curing under the weather! Brilliant! Just imagine if people could buy these now. I have included a photo I took of some of the bottles in the museum...

If you look in the photo of the bottles you will notice a Boots product, Boots back in 1940! I think it might be a lung purifier or something to do with having bronchitis I will definitely keep a look out for this in the future! I just hope they have cleaned it first! I must reiterate most of the bottles we have donated into our shop have been emptied and cleaned. (we always wash items before they go out for sale regardless)
Anyway to end this long blog nicely here are some photos of some of my favourite donations today:

A nice ethnic patchwork rug. I’ve seen one very similar in a store called “Collard Manson” , we are very modern aren’t we :)

Also featured is a nice floral cream jug, saucer and sandwich plate beautiful for afternoon tea on the veranda.