In June last year I wrote quite passionately about my thoughts on the original Mary Queen of Charity Shops series.
(Hint: I didn’t like it much, read why here and here)
Well, I’ve just caught up with the re visit and I thought, seeing as I was so vocal last year, I should give a brief review of the re visit. Also, as a very regular Charity Shopper I thought I’d share my experiences of the changing face of the shops in the last year.
THE SHOW
This new “revisited” show, like most of these type of shows, spent 40 minutes showing me old footage from the 2 shows shown last Summer.
The last 20 minutes of new footage focused on Mary trying to increase the number and reduce the age of volunteers in Charity Shops. Apparently the average age of a High Street Shop Assistant is 36 and Mary wonders why Charity Shop staff are so much older.
I hesitate to state the obvious, but surely this is because High Street shops PAY their staff? People in their 20s and 30s are at work, and not able to give their time to Charity in this way. Students are a potential time rich market, but again, often want to spend their free time working to earn money.
Mary’s answer to the dearth of Younger volunteers was V Day. A day where people could just pop in and give a few hours whenever they felt like it. My feeling was that surely it’s difficult to run a shop properly with staff that just pop in and out when they feel like it. And what happens when 10 people turn up at lunch time on Saturday and you have more staff than customers? Still, it seemed to work for the Orpington store, so presumably there were details not shared in the show on how best to run the scheme.
MY EXPERIENCE
Well, this is where it all goes down hill. I am a very regular Charity Shop Shopper. I can barely pass one without popping in and I frequently spend a full day visiting every store. Today I am wearing a Wallis dress and New Look Shoes from a Charity Shop and yesterday my GAP skirt was also from a Charity Shop.
I have noticed a marked difference in the quality of my Charity Shopping experience since the first Mary Portas shows, and it hasn’t been for the better.
The layout of the stores I visit is much the same as it ever was. Not a single store of the many I visit has had any kind of refit since June last year. I still find racks full of clothes on ill fitting hangers, meaning I spend a lot of time untangling, picking up dropped items or getting otherwise frustrated. Very few have changing areas and many still don’t accept card payments.
The quality of the stock is also much as it ever was. Racks of Primark, George at Asda and Florence + Fred with occasional High Street finds and the very occasional designer or vintage piece, the holy grail of Charity Shopping (those these seem to be getting rarer). I still find handbags and pockets full of dirty tissues, dresses with stains or marks and torn seams.
The one change I have noticed is in the pricing.
Where as it used to be worth a rummage through racks of cheap, poor quality clothing to find a Calvin Klein wool skirt for £5, now, when you find that skirt it’s likely to be priced at £20+. It’s not just the designer clothing that has seen the Mary Portas effect either, many shops are now charging almost as much as the original price for clothing from “bargain” High Street stores like Primark.
A sad side effect of this pricing increase has been that stock turn over also seems to have decreased. I will return to the same Shop week after week and find the same “quality” items still on the shelves at their increased price points while only the lower priced items have moved. Yesterday I heard staff in a Cancer Research shop complaining they had too much stock upstairs as there was no room on the shop floor, yet I left empty handed as I saw 4 dresses that I loved, but, at all over £10, they were just too much. If they had been priced at £5 the store would have been £20 richer and they could have put 4 new pieces out. I was the only customer in the store.
Ultimately the time I spend in Charity Shops has decreased in profitability for me as those gems hidden amongst the rubbish are no longer there.
And I’m not the only one who feels this way. When I asked on Twitter about other peoples experiences of Charity Shopping over the last year I got many responses, and most said the same thing.
msemerdoom – i have noticed a lot of primark and george clothing for more than they would cost full price!
KrishnaMaroo – I always go to charity shops (2 a day – you’ve got to be in it to win it) They are more expensive now, and have less vintage
MissPeelpants – I would spend more, but the feelings of nausea as I rifle rails of ‘Atmosphere’ clothes at £10 a pop is too much to bear…
iFlorrie – why pay £2.99 for a DVD you can get the same price in the supermarket.
Tuileries – Mary launched her Living & Giving shop just round the corner from me. it looks amazing, but it’s really empty, so I usually walk past it & just go to the others. They tend to have way more stuff
MinimumMouse – I love charity shops, but I agree that many are getting more expensive. Some also only stock new-ish stuff – not what I want!
BananaFudgeStud – I did. Very rarely do now. Charity shops have just become extension of retail these days with new stock and not vintage.
It’s not that I don’t want Charity Shops to make money from their donations, I really do! My feeling is that schemes like the Oxfam online shop, are the ideal way to bring Charity Shops into the 21st Century and ensure they make fair money from their items. “Special” donations could be sold online, either through the website or through eBay perhaps. It’s just that relying on that one person who will fit, and want, that item, for that price, to walk through the door of your Charity Shop seems an impossible proposal.
The problem is that no one has told me that they have STARTED shopping in Charity Shops recently, only that they’ve stopped due to lack of variety and higher prices.
It seems there are people out there looking for something different. Seeking an alternative to the bland High Street experience, but Charity Shops are no longer providing that for them.
Photos by clevercupcakes , Thomas Hawk , kiki99 , Paloetic
Comments
12 responses to “Mary Queen of Charity Shops: Revisited”
You’ve written beautifully about this subject. I agree with EVERYTHING! You’re a girl after my own heart actually! I used to spend a great deal of time in charity shops but no more. They are just way too price-greedy these days – that goes for pretty much all of them! It’s possibly to do with TV shows like Mary Queen of Shops (although I do love Mary)! However, most charity shops these days have people working solely to sift out the ‘designer’ and ‘vintage’ pieces so they can sell them on eBay or via their own websites.
I can understand a charity wanting to get as much money as they can – it’s all for a good cause, but if the clothing is staying on the shelves it’s just plain stupid. Not exactly brain science is it? They need to keep their stock moving and the only way of doing that is by making the clothing accessible to all. That means cheaper prices as before! Otherwise what’s the point? We may as well go and buy NEW clothing from any number of high street stores for the same price. God forbid!!!
Thanks for writing about this subject. I’ll keep an eye on this post. I’m look forward to your readers comments. 🙂
I think that the problem is that the people they are targeting at those prices often don’t have the time to go to a shop on the vague hope they will have something they like and will fit.
I totally agree about finding primark at prices higher than getting it new! It’s a tough balance to strike but with so many bargains on ebay people just won’t pay £20 for an item in a charity shop. Well said Retro Chick!
Lynsey
LeKeux Events – vintage and retro event and wedding planners
I always think about eBay when I see the high prices too!
I heartily agree with you. I went round every charity shop on one street in Hove the other day. I found one vintage dress (hideous) for £20. Everything else was, as I said above, Atmosphere (or Topshop or New Look or whatever) and very little under £5. Very little under £10 as well, especially with dresses.
You’re not even getting 80s/early 90s vintage any more. Where is it getting siphoned off to? How can they justify prices which aren’t much less than if you bought the piece brand new at the time (and it wouldn’t be bobbled or the wrong season).
Charity shops forget that they’re not only there to make money for charity, but to provide an affordable source of clothing, books and household items for less well-off people.
When I watched this tripe last year I almost got an ulcer from the bile boiling over inside me. Give me Mary Portas head on a plate I say! She’s a corporate whore through & though and as such only superficially “cares†about people; it’s obvious that this ghastly crone thinks that profits should always come before people and I believe she’s done no end of damage. I am a firm believer that in hard times such as these, we need charity shops to serve a dual purpose; not just raise funds for worthy causes & charity CEO salaries but also provide people that are struggling to get by on the governmentally stipulated “living wage†with affordable clothing & the odd trinket to beautify their homes with.
completely agree – I had a big problem with what Mary was trying to do too, although mainly with upping the price. I think she’s missing the point; the reason people go to charity shops in the first place.
As I recall, her goal was to make more money for these shops, yes?
But while most shops could do with a refit, or at least a reshuffling of the racks, and the quality of garments could be improved (no bobbling, stains, etc), the shop isn’t going to make money if people can’t afford things or decide to buy because of the high price.
I’ve decided not to buy things due to price before – here in Newcastle there are a wealth of charity shops, and while prices aren’t as high as either you or some of the other commenters state in their areas, they have certainly gone up. Who’s winning here?
jenn.x
I’m often more likely to take a risk on a stained or torn piece being repairable for £5 as well.
I certainly wouldn’t risk any more than that!
I’ve got to say, there are loads of charity shops here, but the only one worth visiting is the bookstore. It’s just so much easier to visit one of the proper vintage shops in town – ironically they’re a whole lot cheaper. Usually you can find decent dresses (might want a bit of reworking but theyre usually unstained and clean) for under a fiver, you’re lucky if you can find a primark shirt for that in Oxfam.
Great article, very informative, absolutely brilliant, and what a shame to hear the state of these shops.
Oh yeah, absolutely, as you know I’ve blogged about my local Mary Portas shop before! I really have to be careful these days with what I buy because of the pricing. I used to just get tons of stuff, wear it a couple of times then hand it back. That never happens now, because I actually have to think long and hard about whether to buy something or not.
The central Edinburgh shops seem to be doing alright though, and to be fair there are a few ones that have improved their layout and presentation a lot over the last year.
I haven’t seen this ‘revisited’ programme, so perhaps I’m not qualified to comment. But I have strong feelings about charity shops so perhaps I am!
There’s so much to address so I’ll try to be brief.
I agree with all your points about charity shop volunteers. Its another sign of Mary Portas’ lack of understanding of the sector that she wants to push the pensioners out. Personally, I love getting to know the people working in charity shops, and now I think of it, it is one of the few chances I get of interacting with older generations (I’ve got no grandparents left!) Older people are generally committed and reliable, and won’t skip a shift because they’re too hungover!
Mary Portas is clearly a whizz with modern fashion retailing, but her mania for pushing charity shops upmarket again shows a misunderstanding of what (and who) they are for, and a lack of awareness of the great, and increasing, need for affordable second hand clothing and goods for all types of people (not just young fashionistas after designer bargains).
Actually most of the other points I’d like to discuss I addressed a few years ago in an article I wrote for a Liverpool magazine. If you’ll forgive me, here’s a link to it:
http://tintrunk.blogspot.com/2009/10/confessions-of-charity-shop-worker.html#more
Apologies for the long comment – it could have been so much longer 🙂