Shopaholic I am not ,but neither am I averse to the odd bout of retail therapy. Add to this my freqent visits to the local charity shop (decluttering instinct balanced by beachcombing mentality) and you’ ll understand why I found Mary Queen of Charity Shops an absolute must see. If anything it was even more fascinating than I had expected. Business troubleshooting is one thing but with the employees mostly over 80, unpaid, and treating the business as a cross between social centre and second home, it wasn’t surprising our Mary had issues in managing change.
She focussed on two related areas: the need to update the image and atmosphere in the shops, and the urgent need to improve the quality of donations. The shop refit caused most opposition amongst staff, though to Mary’s credit most dissenters got back on board in the end.
To counter the quality problem, she instigated a campaign with the motto ‘donate don’t dump’ which I think is being taken up by charities country wide. This must be key to eliminating the sad and musty miasma emanating from so many charity shops. But the fault is also with the customers who need to be prepared to pay fair prices for good quaity cast-offs. Sadder by far than the sight of little old ladies stomping off into the sunset was the shopper complaining at the price of a tennis racquet – all of £1.50.
Meanwhile I’ve been supporting a local charity in a different way.
Yes, that’s me in the forklift truck (the fire engine was more fun!)
Ali Bacon / Books Etc 
Hello. I thought MAry Portas was firm but spot on about a number of issuess regarding Charity Shops. I also think a lot of what she mentioned was common sense. Shame that the guy who she put in temporary charge buckled, Graham was it? He could have done a good job.
I enjoy charity shopping myself and now am waitnig for the influence of the series to be seen in the shops i visit. We’ll see I guess…
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Hi thanks for visiting. I agree, I’m waiting for ‘D-Day to happen around here! AliB
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There was an article on the BBC website a long time ago about how some charity shops are becoming much more professional, especially about their ability to price stuff up. They were especially interested in the old vinyl that people were donating having no longer got suitable equipment to play it on. A knowledgeable employee with access to the internet was checking everything to see if it was actually valuable and then sending it to a central repository where they auctioned it on eBay. Can’t find the original article now, but I did find this one about books in charity shops: http://www.tinyurl.com/mw9bd7
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Yep – our local hospice has an Ebay presence – makes sense.
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I enjoyed this article but I am not convinced about Mary Queen of Charity Shops. The reason I love charity shops is because you can find a treasure amongst the tat. When these shops become popular I think the quality will drop and they will become more like generic high street shops. I agree something needs to be done but I’m not sure this sexing up is the best way forward.
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Hi and thanks for visiting
I know what you mean. The ‘sexing up’ does go against some instincts. But I do think shopper should be prepared to pay a price that goes at leasrt some way to reflecting value, bearing in mind it will still be a bargain. Apparently the other ongoing problem is that more people are buying cheap imported new clothes which don’t wear well and have no resale potential.
AliB
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