Wednesday 16 February 2011

Overheard in a Charity Shop...

Today was supermarket day so it gave me the opportunity to pop into the two charity shops next to the supermarket.  One of them is very reasonable in price but has a 'minimalist' styling whereby they haven't over stuffed the shelves with every item that has ever been donated (no matter how grubby and useless). The other is stuffed to the gills, every inch of shop space is filled (think Aladdin's cave) - the pricing in this shop however sometimes leaves a lot to be desired, they also have the habit of putting "ebay price... our price..." on their china and collectables so you have little chance of getting a really good bargain...unless you spy something they haven't, the thrill of the chase as it were :o) I think their pricing may also be the reason why not much space is left in the shop, a lot gets donated but not as much leaves the shop! 

Well today I was perusing the shelves in the expensive shop and I heard a shout "all bric-a-brac and kitchen items are half price today" - fabulous I thought, especially when I spotted these:


They are 1960's Pyrex bowls with the 'cottage rose' design - I remember using bowls and cups just like this at my grandma's house so I just had to have them, they are a real treasure to remind me of my grandma's kitchen....plus they had obviously been one of the good finds they had missed pricing up as they were tagged at 30p each!  Great bargain and even so that they will be half price so I'll be getting the two for 30p bonus!....Well when I got to the till the lady's face dropped at the price tags and she rang them up in the till at 60p, she hastily added quite snootily that "all items under £1 are not half price today as we might a well be giving them away" - ooh err, she obviously realised they were priced very cheaply and even at 60p I think I won the bargain hunt battle! Over priced charity shop 0 Scarlett 1 :o)
I think if the lady knew how much stuff I've actually donated to their shop over the past year she wouldnt have minded.

So onto the minimalist shop - easy to get the buggy round but not much to treat the eye, no boxes to rummage in or piles of fabric to sort through - but I did find this:


Its a beautifully printed large fabric sheet, lots of fabric to use for crafty projects or I may just keep is as it is and use it on my own bed. It cost £1.99 which was a real thrifty bargain!
Over Heard in a Charity shop..
So I thought I'd introduce a little regular blog feature called 'Overheard in a charity shop' as one of the many joys of charity shopping is the wierd and wonderful people you meet and the funny (and strange) conversations I hear from the staff and customers. So i thought i'd would share some of the charity shop chat.  Todays chat was courtesy of the elderly stock room worker who was chatting to another member of staff while hanging clothes. They were discussing the fact that she was adopted at a young age and that her mother wouldnt let her date and wasnt very close to her, she then went onto comment "well what about those IVF children, they will never be able to find out who their parents are, poor souls" - oh dear, I will never know if the other member of staff took the time to explain the ins and outs of IVF to her -lol.

I would love to hear any of your "overheards" from your bargain hunting missions! :o)

Well happy Wednesday all, and a hugs to all you lovelies that are following my blog.

Scarlett xx

10 comments:

  1. I love those plates, just like a Cath Kidston flower.

    Great idea on overheard conversations, I love being nosey!

    Bee happy x

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  2. Thanks SO much for linking up to my party, I love all your treasures! :) Your sheet is beautiful and the plates were a steal! (good for you for winning the battle!)
    Hope you have a great day and I hope you'll come back next week!
    Missy :)

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  3. Oh! I love this! Those dishes are wonderful - I have things that remind me of my grandmother too! Wish I had the sense to have known what was good when I was a bit younger!
    Love your post!
    Kathy

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  4. Thanks for your lovely comments - very pleased to have won the battle :o) hehe! scarlett x

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  5. First off I wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog! And secondly and most importantly,I LOVE YOUR BLOG!!! It is full of all the most wonderful treasures that I love! Its so fun to see treasures from another part of the world! I cant wait to new things that you find! Maybe someday we can do a thrift purchased swap!

    Smiles,
    The Joyful Thrifter

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  6. Oh that is a good story. Thanks for following my blog and the very kind comment. I'll be sure to return to view all your great blog also.
    Hugs~Amanda

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  7. Those plates are lovely! I always chuckle at the conversations women will have when they're in different stalls of changing rooms or public restrooms!

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  8. Oh Scarlett, I LOVE this post. There's so much to comment on that I don't know where to start. Firstly, love the pyrex. Also, I cannot believe that your charity shop puts ebay price...our price.... Mr J and P thinks that it's quite clever, I think it's just an excuse to price things up way beyond their worth. Mind you I'm a bit of a meanie, so I'll stop there!

    Love your idea for a feature. I will listen carefully and report back!

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  9. oh my! i do love what you've found! those plates are gorgeous and though you didnt get the half price as they said (i'm abit miffed the cashier lady said it's not as it's under £1) hahaha...but it's still a good bargain for £0.60. I am myself found that there's One charity shop that gave unreasonable prices for stuff that were donated by people (including myself) and i notice they also now putting brand new items like a chair for £200! and the clothes that still got a price tag from zara that costs £9.99 and they put £7 for it, i dont shop there alot but like you, i do try to find items that they missed pricing it high :) and another charity shop that have cheap stuff but the items are grubby and useless but i sometimes enjoy rummaging thru their stuff to find treasures once in awhile! It's a great idea on "overheard in a charity shop", will share it once i have a chance to go to the charity shop for my hunt next time!! Thanks for dropping by on my blog!

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  10. Thanks for dropping by my blog,for your lovely comment,and for following.I agree with you about the charity shops.They are big business now and it's getting harder to find bargains.You can be lucky, as a fellow blogger was, when she spotted a gorgeous vintage eiderdown in her CS with a 'not for sale' sign on and when she enquired they said it was smelly and therefore going to be thrown out! She ended up getting it for nothing!
    Happy hunting! :0)

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