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 Sunday at 08:14 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 Sunday at 09:23 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 Sunday at 10:09 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 Sunday at 16:41 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. 

[NewWave]

I donate to St Christophers which is a local charity that sadly looked after a friend of ours at the end of his life.

It makes me angry to read here that the landlord increased the rent on the shop.

There is also a really good charity shop for Sue Ryder next door to Sainsburys in Forest Hill- (I donate to them too..and rarely leave without making a purchase!) they do have some designer pieces at higher prices (Gucci, etc..which are usually in a cabinet in the window) but as a rule thier prices are very fair.

I find 'Mary's save the Children' VERY overpriced much more so than StChristophers.

Edited 23 hours ago by NewWave

[Katherty]

It would be interesting to know who the landlord is, how much the rent was increased by, and the reasons for the rise. 

[Angelina]

There are plenty of charity shops around, even on Lordship Lane.

For SCH one, would be interested to see how much of the donations goes to rent and overheads, rather than the actual intended cause.

[Penguin68]

Hospices are coming under increasing pressure at the moment. Not only have their costs been forced up by the increase in employers NI and possibly the minimum wage for some workers, but the recent assisted dying legislation, which forces doctors faced with patients likely to die to offer suicide as a way out means that numbers of hospice doctors will withdraw as they don't ethically hold with the legislation. Additionally we might anticipate a reduction in research on end-of-life care and pain alleviation where the government is supporting an alternative (and one far cheaper than proper end-of-life care).

This all brings pressure on the hospice movement as the assisted dying philosophy runs counter to it. It is hardly surprising then that they are looking to gain as much benefit as they can from higher prices.

[Insuflo]

@Penguin68 I find your post really weird and frankly  a bit creepy.

The discussion is about the fact that a charity shop has a sale on and whether their pricing and stock policy has changed. To twist that into an attack on government fiscal policies and an oblique snipe at the cross party supported assisted dying legislation, passed with clear support from the majority of the public, is just bafflingly bizarre. I am relieved that you stopped short of blaming Southwark Council or TfL.

There is no contradiction between the intent of the assisted dying bill and the work of hospices, it does not force doctors to do anything and suicide doesn’t exist- it was abolished as a crime in 1961. 
If you wish to raise yet another argument you have already lost, I suggest you start a new thread rather than divert this one off topic.

Edited yesterday at 09:48 by Insuflo

[Angelina]

I think that charity shops are - in general - no longer the place for bargains and affordable items, as they used to be.  It's a little ridiculous that you can spend the same for a second hand item as you can for new.

We donate to two particular ones that are not overpriced, because we want our donations to go to people that need them, and are affordable.

 

[the_hermit]

Their mandate is to raise as much money as possible for the hospice.  They're not a clothing charity.

[Penguin68]

3 hours ago, Insuflo said:

suicide doesn’t exist- it was abolished as a crime in 1961. 

Sorry, but suicide does exist, it is not, as you've noted, any longer a crime, but it does, very sadly, exist. Or do you have another word to describe someone killing themselves? 

[Insuflo]

5 minutes ago, Penguin68 said:

Sorry, but suicide does exist, it is not, as you've noted, any longer a crime, but it does, very sadly, exist. Or do you have another word to describe someone killing themselves? 

Yes, killing themselves. Taking their own life. In the case of assisted dying, it is an informed, personal, justified and soon to be legal decision. Your use of the term suicide (which is the legal term for a formerly criminal act) is petty and pejorative in context. Your post was totally off topic.

[Penguin68]

My post was specifically about the pressures now being felt by hospices and why St Christopher's, whom I much admire and support and who cared wonderfully for friends might be under pressure to leverage their shops as much as possible. And the word suicide is used to describe any self killing, whether wholly legal and admired in societies such as ancient Rome or medieval Japan or as a term in the UK. Prisoners are put on 'suicide watch', not 'taking their own life watch' for instance. 

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

1 hour ago, Penguin68 said:

Prisoners are put on 'suicide watch'

No. "Observations". 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6720ae033758e4604742a838/prison-safety-policy-framework.pdf

[Alec1]

I have noticed over the years, they put things on sale, when they can't shift the on the shelf stock, which isn't surprising.  

[Angelina]

very likely - when it's a larger chain of charity shops, they move stock around locations if they can't sell it.

I don't know what independents do when they have things they just can't shift - clothes I would imagine are sold in bulk and I'd also imagine a fair amount is binned - they don't get to choose what is donated to them.