St Christopher's shop

[Castleton]

Popped in today and the staff were telling people everything was 50% off! Even books..

It includes Sunday so I'm definitely going back tomorrow

[hellosailor]

Even discounting by 50% wouldn't bring their prices to an appropriate place, it's crazy. 
They label items of clothing from high street shops as twice as expensive as they would have been new. 
If something has a high end label they price it as it would have been brand new regardless of the condition. I heard  someone question this with the manager the other day, they wanted to buy a very bobbly cashmere jumper with a big moth hole in it that was priced at £70. They asked the manager why it was priced so highly when it was in poor condition and ventured that in another charity shop it might be £5 and the manager said that when they got a designer or high end high street label item donated they googled to check what it was priced originally and priced it similarly. 
A friend went there recently because they needed the buy a plain white shirt for their teenager for a school performance and there were 2 white shirts there, one £50 and one £80. 
A worn pair of Nike air force 1 were priced at £40 last time I was there. 
it's crackers

 

[tedfudge]

They are way to expensive for a charity shop 

[Sue]

The prices have been ridiculously high since they had the refurb. Maybe they are trying to recoup the money they spent.

On the other hand, the quality of a lot of the clothing has improved. There is more designer stuff than there used to be, though certainly no bargains any more.

But I took a nearly full box of unused Kilner spice jars in. I think there were 9 of them.

You can buy a box of 12 on Amazon for £25 (I just looked). You can probably buy them in Farmers.

The hospice shop put them on sale separately at £4.50 each !!!!!

I only saw a few of them, so I don't know if they were putting out a few at a time. Though  next time I went in the ones I saw before had gone, I presume sold 

That price is  just ridiculous. I'm all for supporting charities and charity shops - both donating and buying - but just because ED has become gentrified doesn't give them the right to (apparently) rip people off.

I've seen pictures in there as well that seemed (to me) to be at very inflated prices. I don't know if they get them valued by someone?

I've started donating more things to Oxfam. They sell donated stuff online as well. 

ETA: If the hospice shop is  selling everything off at 50%, I assume their policy of increasing prices has resulted in decreasing sales.

Unless they have more donations than they can handle, so they've got to get rid of what they've already got.

They have several other shops. Have the prices gone up so much  in all of them? I can't remember where the other ones are, apart from the children's shop in Lordship Lane.

Sorry for long post.

Edited 12 hours ago by Sue

[ianr]

8 hours ago, hellosailor said:

Even discounting by 50% wouldn't bring their prices to an appropriate place, it's crazy. .....

A worn pair of Nike air force 1 were priced at £40 last time I was there. 
it's crackers

 

I was looking at used trainers/running shoes there a couple of weeks ago, and I think clocked them as in the £10-15 range; might even have bought a pair if they'd had my size.  Perhaps they have a clear eye open for the known brands with their ? premium prices and presumed high technical quality.

Edited 11 hours ago by ianr

[alice]

9 hours ago, hellosailor said:

A friend went there recently because they needed the buy a plain white shirt for their teenager for a school performance and there were 2 white shirts there, one £50 and one £80. 

for white shirts locally, Primark would be my first choice

 

I suppose the primary purpose of that shop is to provide funds for the hospice at Sydenham. if the new prices don’t increase the profit substantially it won’t last but  (as others have said it’s been going on for awhile) it clearly must

Edited 10 hours ago by alice

[Pugwash]

The rent of the shop is enormous- the landlord almost doubled it when they had to renew the lease. St. C's had to make a decision as to whether to pay the increased rent or find alternative premises.

The refurbishment has greatly improved the shop's layout. Husband now buys most of his stuff from the Lewisham branch as much cheaper and also sell CDs and LPs. The Penge and Sydenham stores have a more limited range but also lower prices.

[Sue]

The Living and Giving shop  had a pair of 90s flares for £250 😮

This £150 "bargain" in the hospice shop was some sort of flimsy parka type thing.

Edited 3 hours ago by Sue

[malumbu]

A few people I have known spent their last few days at St Christophers.  It is wonderful what they provide.

Most charity shops have long since become more savvy about more valuable donations.

As with a commercial organisation they have to price according to the market.

Please continue to use the store.

[Sue]

53 minutes ago, malumbu said:

A few people I have known spent their last few days at St Christophers.  It is wonderful what they provide.

Most charity shops have long since become more savvy about more valuable donations.

As with a commercial organisation they have to price according to the market.

Please continue to use the store.

Whilst all that is true, the "market" is surely what people will pay?

And if they have had to reduce their stock by as much as 50%, doesn't that imply that people haven't been paying the prices they have been asking?

[malumbu]

I would hope that people buying second hand would be happy to pay more at a charity, than say, eBay. 

Particularly one as relevant as SCH.

[Finderloo]

I'm sure this forum itself deprives them of many of the best donations they'd otherwise get..

(I say that while applauding the "reuse" mentality and the bargains available here).

As Malumbu said.. please continue to use the store.