save the children charity shop

[aerie]

what has happened here? this used to be sparkling clean and aesthetically pleasing with good stock albeit tres expensive but we shopped there for that reason, ie unique clothes and accessories. this week there were 3 tiny plastic ducks for a childs bath for ?1 each! on the shelf and tatty shoes and gritty dirty shelves. The quality and aesthetics have plummeted. Its all very well having high end designer clothes and shoes donated but frankly if they are over 7 years old then perhaps they should be on a vintage rail and not presented as current. And whyare there low end garments more expensive than sold in the original low end store. There are other charity shops in which to source low end clothes but not what we expect from MLAGS

stores.

[Jacqui5254]

I imagine it is a reflection of the donations received.

How many people actually have donated 'high end designer clothes and shoes' since the shop opened?

[VixSta]

I saw a pair of Jimmy Choos in there the other week!

I've donated to Save the Children recently, I donated items from the 'more expensive' end of my wardrobe, e.g. stuff from Coast and very nice dresses from Warehouse. Appreciate both these shops are high street and not designer, I still felt the quality of the items was more suitable for Save the Children than the other charity shops we have. I always enjoy a browse and am often surprised at some of the stuff people are prepared to donate when they could get a decent amount of money themselves on eBay.

[Angharad_L]

I found children's clothes in there from a multipack being sold as single items for a higher price than the original shop.

One example was baby grows from Sainsburys which were selling for ?2 each when they are ?6 for five as a multipack.

Agree it's great to donate to charity but don't agree it should be more expensive than buying items from the original seller, whether they are new or secondhand. Feels dishonest to me?

And I found secondhand muslins in a bundle which were dirty... :(

Angharad

[Lynne]

They were asking ?290 for a "vintage" mirror that was obviously new, which is probably against various trading laws.. ?290 would have been very expensive even if t was old. Still, if someone was daft enough to part with their money......

[EDmummy]

I've donated some higher end items that I could well have made money from on eBay (Nicole Farhi, Toast, Cos) but decided I'd rather make a contribution to this worthwhile charity. I recently got an email to say that so far my items have raised over ?150. That's much more than I would have donated directly. I don't have money to burn and could have put that sum to good use had I got that from eBay sales but I think Save the Children will put it to much better use.

[Sue]

Lynne Wrote:

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> They were asking ?290 for a "vintage" mirror that

> was obviously new, which is probably against

> various trading laws.. ?290 would have been very

> expensive even if t was old. Still, if someone was

> daft enough to part with their money......

I guess that is what they are banking on.

I've only been in there once. Saw their prices and came straight out again :(

[HerneHill81]

Well, they need the money. Their Chief Executive's salary is over ?130,000 per annum. Give generously, folks!

[EDmummy]

Not unreasonable when running a multi-billion ? organisation that reaches many millions of children worldwide. Pay peanuts you get monkeys.

HerneHill81 Wrote:

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> Well, they need the money. Their Chief Executive's

> salary is over ?130,000 per annum. Give

> generously, folks!

[alice]

they give 100% of profits to the charity. wonder what the difference is between gross and net in that branch.

[slh2009]

I agree....my friend holds a senior position at Save and she's the hardest working person I know, often in the office til midnight working on deadlines, at weekends too, and altho on a decent salary it doesn't compare to people I have worked with in the city who do much less.....

Not unreasonable when running a multi-billion ? organisation that reaches many millions of children worldwide. Pay peanuts you get monkeys.

HerneHill81 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Well, they need the money. Their Chief Executive's

> salary is over ?130,000 per annum. Give

> generously, folks!

Not unreasonable when running a multi-billion ? organisation that reaches many millions of children worldwide. Pay peanuts you get monkeys.

HerneHill81 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Well, they need the money. Their Chief Executive's

> salary is over ?130,000 per annum. Give

> generously, folks!

[ruffers]

I guess charity shops are driven by what people donate, and there was a piece in The Guardian today mentioning this which may be relevant -

"The rise of discounters such as Aldi, Lidl and Primark has played a role in both factors. Not only have they increased competition for charity shops, but the growing popularity of cut-price clothing means the quality of the garments in people?s wardrobes is not what it was. So, when a household clears out its wardrobes, unwanted clothing is more likely to go in the bin than be taken to the charity shop. Oxfam said that donations fell by 2% last year."

Full article here - http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/14/oxfam-tough-test-new-era-lidl-aldi-primark

[Lynne]

Charity shops must be seriously affecting retail trade. Went to Eastbourne recently (I know how to live)and started to count the charity shops. Gave up when I reached 25. Bit like the restaurant situation on Lordship Lane.....

Lynne

[jo1973]

Hi everyone,

As a volunteer of the shop mentioned here, I would like to take this opportunity to apologise if any of you are unhappy with your experience of Living & Giving. It is a really wonderful shop to work for and we all work very hard to provide quality products at great prices for our very valued customers.

We strive to only sell items that fit within the MLAG ethos, but as I'm sure you will all understand, sometimes differences of opinion on price, label and quality can sometimes (and hopefully, rarely!) occur, especially when we are introducing new volunteers into the team. Great care is taken with training to make sure this is only transitory. We are EXTREMELY picky about what goes onto the shop floor, from the huge number of donations we have each week. Anything not suitable for MLAG goes straight to a Save The Children shop, so we are really taking care to make the shop look as amazing as possible. It would be very hard for us to have a dedicated area to vintage as the shop is small and we only actually receive truly vintage clothes sporadically.

Any damaged, dirty or wrongfully priced items are swiftly dealt with and we are always happy to discuss any items you are not happy with. We're a very friendly bunch of people, so please don't be afraid to point things out to us! I personally was told about the mirror and we have rectified the error, so apologies to all who were upset by this.

We also now have a fantastic NEW manager (after a long search) that is now making sure MLAG is a wonderful place for you all to donate and shop on Lordship Lane....I hope you will all continue to support the work we try and do to raise as much money as possible for the charity.

Anyone is welcome to volunteer (only the managerial position is salaried) and you only need to give 4 hours of your time per week. Please feel free to pop by and pick up a form to join us and see for yourselves the work we do.

[Mfichardt]

Great to hear thanks for the update jo1973

[christinaH]

I have had a similar experience. I bought a baby sleepsuit for ?3 and then saw it in a pack of 5 in Primark for ?5. Its a nice sleepsuit but they are marked too high.

[SoozieW]

Lynne Wrote:

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> They were asking ?290 for a "vintage" mirror that

> was obviously new, which is probably against

> various trading laws.. ?290 would have been very

> expensive even if t was old. Still, if someone was

> daft enough to part with their money......

Is there supposed to be a decimal pint in there? If not they are having a laugh. I don't expect to find things that expensive in a charityshop.

[giggirl]

Jacqui5254 Wrote:

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> I imagine it is a reflection of the donations

> received.

>

> How many people actually have donated 'high end

> designer clothes and shoes' since the shop opened?

Me, I donate to Save the Children and my wardrobe is pretty high-end. I think they were most likely my Choos that someone spotted. Ebay isn't for everyone; I don't like ebay and I don't use it. I'd much rather have a charity make money than a big corporate take a large cut of the profits. If I'm donating something that I paid ???? for then I want the charity to make as much money as possible.

[siousxiesue]

SoozieW Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Lynne Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > They were asking ?290 for a "vintage" mirror

> that

> > was obviously new, which is probably against

> > various trading laws.. ?290 would have been

> very

> > expensive even if t was old. Still, if someone

> was

> > daft enough to part with their money......

>

>

> Is there supposed to be a decimal pint in there?

> If not they are having a laugh. I don't expect to

> find things that expensive in a charityshop.

Good point Soozie but as a volunteer in a charity shop not a million miles away, I have to say we receive the most eclectic mix of donations it's possible to have-some items are personally pointed out by the donor as being worth a fair amount and we have to respect that and get as good a price as we can. For example-jewellery, new with tags designer items or fantastic pieces of furniture. It's a fine balance between honouring the donor, maximising money for our charity and keeping customer's happy so they'll come back!

[rabbitears]

I got a really nice Zara shirt in perfect condition for peanuts in there recently.

[Jacqui5254]

This might be a good opportunity to remind us all to donate some of our unwanted [and decent!] things.

Or donate as an option to helping with the refugee crisis.

http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/about-us/emergencies/child-refugee-crisis-appeal?utm_campaign=refugee&utm_medium=ppc&utm_source=refugeecrisisappealppc&sissr=1