Now charity begins on the high street
Forget the Primark queue – secondhand stores are full of treasures, says Flic Everett
Ever since I was 14 years old, rifling through the dusty local hospice shop looking for Fifties prom dresses, I have loved charity shops. There is nothing like the thrill of a genuine bargain, particularly when it’s recycled, eco-friendly and nobody else is going to turn up to a party wearing the same thing. Many have complained in the last decade about the number of charity shops now crowding high streets, but for me, they’re an all-you-can-eat buffet, providing homeware, designer clothes and books for less than the price of a coffee.
So, while people queued around the block for Primark yesterday, I am more desperate to return to rummaging in my local charity shop.
Especially as donations have been at an all-time high after everyone’s lockdown clear-outs. The good news is charity shops will be “full to bursting”, according to the Charity Retail Association, and while a 72-hour quarantine period will make trying on clothes tricky, I hardly ever do – they’re cheap enough to risk buying anyway.
There is an even better reason to buy at charity shops than “revamping your wardrobe on the cheap”, though – a shopping spree here might go some way to save charities themselves. For many in the sector, this has been a desperate three months with no fund-raisers, huge charity events like marathons cancelled and no shops open since March.
According to figures from independent charity Pro Bono, 10 per cent of UK charities are facing bankruptcy by the end of 2020, after suffering a collective funding shortfall of £10billion, with further losses of £6.4billion over the next six months. A combination of raised demand for their services, lockdown and a drop in donations has caused a perfect storm of problems. The majority of the UK’S charities are small, with income of under £100,000 a year. Two thirds have already been forced to cut their services and are expecting worse to come. Even huge charities like Age UK and Cancer Research are concerned, with the latter projecting a huge loss of £120million in donations over the coming year.
All the more reason, then, to get out and charity-shop, now they have started to reopen, too. Having seen the queues on the high street this week, however, as masked-up retail desperados readied for a bunfight over cheap bikinis and mass-produced trainers, I’m not sure most people yet understand the pure joy of a good second-hand store. The sense of satisfaction in getting “a find” in one of those, far outweighs bagging five vest tops cobbled together in the Far East.
Over the years, I’ve snapped up clothes and shoes from Boden, J Crew, Coast and Karen Millen, and I won’t forget the mint condition DKNY boots for £10 I found in an Age UK shop in south Manchester. I almost hyperventilated taking them to the till.
I’ve also bagged beautiful china, silk cushions and a Hobbs leather bag, which is now my favourite all-time handbag. I’ve learnt to spot a good fabric at 20 paces, examine armpits for stains (I’m sorry, but realism is a factor in all charity shopping) and sort cashmere from merino and silk from slub by eyeball alone.
I have never understood the snobbery around charity shopping. I have good friends who sniff “oh no, everything stinks, ugh, other people have worn those things…” – conveniently forgetting that precovid, the pricey designer item they’ve just bought was probably tried on several times, too.
Post-covid, the focus will be on hygiene more than ever; I always just wash whatever I buy, and it’s good as new – or better, because I don’t have to feel guilty about spending money I haven’t got.
As we emerge from lockdown, poorer but with a stronger sense of community, perhaps it’s time to forget the huge stores and their interchangeable stock. Go and buy a china cat, an angora jumper and a thriller you’ve been dying to read, and save the nation’s soul instead.
The satisfaction of a charity ‘find’ far outweighs bagging tops from the Far East