I had last Tuesday off work for a bit of 'me' time when the little man was at nursery for the day. It was a perfect excuse to hit the charity shops without wondering how long it will take until he has a melt down as he hates shopping, well being in the buggy full stop. So I thought I'd indulge myself a little more and head to a small town nearby which has one small high street of which 5 shop are charity! Hooray!
Alas I was hugely disappointed, mainly due to the crazy pricing. I could not believe what they were charging in each of these shops for basic high street clothing. One charity shop had a rail of skirts and every one of them was priced over £10, the top of the shot being a brown Per Una skirt with a floral design which was marked up at £25! Is it me or is this not madness? Surely no one is going to go in there an buy a secondhand M&S skirt for £20. There was also a rather tatty Wallis coat marked up at £30, and several Primark tops which were probably cheaper to have bought new than the ticket price put on them.
So feeling a bit despondent I headed to my local Hospice shop which always has bargains and are the only charity shop near me which have half price days. Straight inside the door I spotted these:
Yes I got my hands on some french grain sack cushions. I've been seeing these a lot in interior design magazines and quite fancied a couple but was not keen on the prices.
I nabbed these quick especially when I saw the original tags were still on them:
Having done a bit of a google search I've found that The Old Cinema London is a rather fabulous looking department store for vintage, antique and interior design goodies. (It is now on my list to visit). I also found both these cushions on there marked as sold - see here. And how much would one pay for these cushions in The Old Cinema?...
While on the topic of pricing I did have a nosey through the 'vintage rail' in one shop, damn them from jumping on the vintage bandwagon *wink* and charging us more for the old stuff we love. Well this one shop seemed to have missed the whole point of vintage, there on the rail was a rather boring black and white dress from Jane Norman with the following tag:
Yes a Jane Normal dress marked up as being vintage, and at a cost of £10.95! Blimey I must be really old if Jane Norman is now vintage - lol! (Sorry about the rubbish pic, was taking it sneaky style in the shop while being watched!).
Right thats enough of my moaning, I blame my stinking cold on being a miserable biatch today ;o)
I hope you have all had a fabulous weekend. I've had a bit of jumble and booting action so will blog my finds soon.
Big Love
Linking to flea-market-finds
Alas I was hugely disappointed, mainly due to the crazy pricing. I could not believe what they were charging in each of these shops for basic high street clothing. One charity shop had a rail of skirts and every one of them was priced over £10, the top of the shot being a brown Per Una skirt with a floral design which was marked up at £25! Is it me or is this not madness? Surely no one is going to go in there an buy a secondhand M&S skirt for £20. There was also a rather tatty Wallis coat marked up at £30, and several Primark tops which were probably cheaper to have bought new than the ticket price put on them.
So feeling a bit despondent I headed to my local Hospice shop which always has bargains and are the only charity shop near me which have half price days. Straight inside the door I spotted these:
I nabbed these quick especially when I saw the original tags were still on them:
Yes £38! How much did the hospice shop want for these cushions complete with tags?......£3 each :o) These totally made up for my charity shop grievences. It also amused me that someone must have bought them from the shop and then donated them not long after - crazy!
Right thats enough of my moaning, I blame my stinking cold on being a miserable biatch today ;o)
I hope you have all had a fabulous weekend. I've had a bit of jumble and booting action so will blog my finds soon.
Big Love
Linking to flea-market-finds
Amorcito,
ReplyDeleteI love those sack pillows, what a bargain Thank GOD for the riche being so snobby and donating their shit to the Charity shops.
I better see that dress on your biatch self. :)
besitos
I've been fairly astonished at the price increases - I know we've all had our various moans about CS's of late but it's true that prices seem to increase every month. I saw a very ordinary glass bud vase in British Heart Foundation yesterday - the sort you can pick up in M&S for £4 and the BHF had priced it at £3. I never want to do a charity shop out of pennies and always tend to empty my small change in the box even if I've bought a bagful of treasures, but I do wonder how much more they can expect to raise prices!!
ReplyDeleteSorry for the little rant! Your finds are fabulous!! I'm one of those grain sack cushion fanciers myself and you've scored a total bargain there!! :-)
£10.95 for second hand Jane Norman?? Bonkers
Jem xXx
Wow you really did strike it lucky! The cushions are fab!
ReplyDeleteSophie
x
Hello!!! Well those cushions are rather marvellous aren't they! Yes, it does beggar belief with some charity shop prices. I realise they have overheads of course, but it's just soo unlikely that anyone will shell out for that second hand. I did pay £20 for a Coast coat in a charity shop once but only because I knew that particular coat was around £200!
ReplyDeleteWow £25 for clothing in a charity shop?! And I thought the charity shops near me where pricey!
ReplyDeleteScarlett, those cushions are amazing. Brilliant find.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I love a good rant about pricing in charity shops. The incredible thing is, though, in our local charity shops when I see something with a ridiculous price tag, I think "who the devil is going to buy that at that price?". And what do you know, somebody does *snort*. Unbelievable....
Fab cushions and great price at a chazzer shop for a change. Totally agree with your rant - considering they get given their stock for nothing, youy'd think they would mark it a bit cheaper and have a quicker turnover and more happy customers. M x
ReplyDeleteHospice shops are the best, always. And - although grim but true - you get the best vintage goodies as lots of old dears leave all their worldly goods to hospices! I always make a bee-line for those ones first! :)
ReplyDeleteI've noticed the prices are very high at the stores here too. The ones we had in Tahoe were much cheaper.
ReplyDeleteSome charity shops are just kidding themselves if they think they will get the prices they are asking. I saw a couple of glass oil and vinegar bottles the other day for £7.50 each. Glad you got those cushions, it's always satisfying to find something you've been after for a while. x
ReplyDeleteHow cool are these!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lucky find........I am very envious!! I hardly ever find anything in our charity shops!!
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What an amazing find - the cushions not the dress. SOme people must have more money than sense!
ReplyDeleteHate the faux vintage that so many shops are trying to buy in too.
I am missing my CS fix so much at the moment - can't wait till the end of the month when I hopefully can walk into town again to visit them all - hope there are plenty of bargains for me.
I have completely given up on certain charity shops in town. My mother has always been a charity shopper, so have I and we know what is a reasonable price. Charity shopping itself has become a pretty soulless experience lately. Shops brimming with tacky mass produced 'new' gift items, managers stomping around full of self-importance bossing the volunteers around and price increases which go way beyond reasonable.
ReplyDeleteThe M+S in town is an Outlet, selling cut-price clothes, many items are under £10, even £5. When you see them priced double what they were originally it annoys me.
I've seen clothes I've donated which are on at least their second visit to the charity shop rail priced at £6 when I paid £2.
The British Heart Foundation has a 'Vintage' rail, it's a joke. Worn-out, rotten old-ladies dresses which aren't even good in a kitsch way, priced at £20. No high-street clothes should be priced over £10, as most things lose half their value the minute you've left the shop.
People who shop regularly and donate regularly are being forced to avoid certain shops.
I'm so glad you were able to find a genuine bargain last week. Well done!
Sorry for major rant,
Lucy x
The story of those cushions is a right headscratcher - how? why? - never mind, you've got them! They're so lovely. Clothes prices ludicrous for second hand nothing special!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your comments ladies, so pleased Im not alone with the whole CS pricing outrage - good to let us all have a little rant :o) Scarlett x
ReplyDeleteWhat cracks me up is that they are pricing stuff high in an effort to make more money but people are walking away from things instead of buying them. I am anyway.
ReplyDeleteFantastic bargain with the cushions, and they are flipping gorgeous. I love them.
Makes no sense to charge over the odds for a Primies top and then charge three quid for something with the price tag still hanging on it. Mental.
xx
what a steal on those cushions.I love going places and they don't really know the value they have and everything is super cheap.I leave going ha ha ha.I got it.I get annoyed at the pricing of re pro clothing.
ReplyDeleteWow that sounds like a bad case of overpricing! I really do think it takes something out of the thrill of finding a bargain, when the prices are not short of there original shop bought prices.
ReplyDeleteBut every cloud has a silver lining and those sack cushions are fabulous dear xxx
It is madness, I agree. Although I did find a Moschino blazer for £14 the other day, which was pretty fantastic. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to their pricing any more. Great bargain on the Old Cinema cushion covers though, although I hope you don't get annoyed when you see my next post! (I'm having a mini rant about burlap!) xx
ReplyDeleteLovely cushions. Total bargain and I'd say you were so lucky to find them because yes, even down here at the sleepy seaside, the CS prices are silly. Like Lucy, there shops I don't even bother going into anymore. But then, there are three that are still reasonable and fair, considering that you are actually buying old tat, not wonderful treasures. :)
ReplyDeleteI love those pillows and what a great bargain. I know so many of the thrifts around here seem higher then if you bought the items new! Not me, I'll pass on it unless it's a bargain!
ReplyDeleteThose pillows were quite an astonishing buy.
ReplyDeleteThose pillows are fabulous, just a great buy now and then keeps us going!
ReplyDeleteCarol
Oh, pillow love, lucky you!!!
ReplyDeleteoOoOOOO Those cushions are lovely. Great find!
ReplyDeleteI hate when stores mark up their stuff for insane prices. I usually stop going to them. Then months later I will pop in and see if their pricing has dropped at all. Sometimes when they realize less ppl are buying they finally price the items like a normal chairty shop.
wonderful cushions, that would certainly have made my day. I'm sick of constantly seeing huge prices for very average branded clothes. Takes the fun out of op shopping that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteI too could happily rant about crazy prices, but it's all been said!
ReplyDeleteI have regular charity shops I always go in because their prices are generally OK, and others I no longer bother with. The whole "vintage section" thing is hilarious, especially given the outrageously awful stuff that gets a price hike just from being put on that rail! Still, if I don't like, I don't buy, and keep my money for more realistically priced shops.
PS. Nearly forgot to say nice cushion covers, good find!
What fantastic cushions and what an absolute bargain too xx
ReplyDeleteMy chazzas are by and large as cheap as chips but sometimes someone has a mental and sticks a mad price on something, like the fake Louis XVI carver that's been in one shop for 6 months. My mate's in furniture retail and charges £20.
ReplyDeleteJane Norman vintage, eh? Bit like the eBayers who list New Look under vintage and the fools that bid!
Love the cushions, I've loved that shop forever, what a brilliant and bargainous find! x
I agree hospice shops are usually wonderful for finds. I too have found the charity shop prices in some ares have gone crazy, they can't possibly sell at those prices which defeats the object really! Much as I love her to bits I thing Mary Portas is to blame. I think these shops just didn't grasp what she was trying to do when she did that series about a charity shop.
ReplyDeleteOh forgot to say ADORE the & cushion.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE those cushions! I would have squealed if I found them.
ReplyDeleteIt better be Chanel if I'm paying that much for a used skirt! Some of the thrift stores around here have gotten pricey too! One of the places near me got fancy new price tags so they think they can charge more. I guess they have to pay for those fancy price tags somehow...
Great cushions i call that a real bargain especailly as it was something you really wanted to ;-)) I agree chairty shops pricing has gone through the roof. I refuse to go in them at the moment because of this as i can actully buy cheaper in normal shops. Hopefully they will get the message soon. dee x
ReplyDeleteI've written about the sad state of thrift shops here in the colonies several times, usually after I've gone out in the hopes that they've come to their senses about pricing stuff higher than what's across the street at the antique mall. But nope, not yet. And I won't even START on estate sales--the goods might be high-end, but there's no way you can buy if you're planning on re-selling unless Donald Trump is a customer! I find that prices on eBay can be reasonable . . . sometimes. And yup--those ARE great cushions!
ReplyDeleteWhat a coincidence, i just discovered The Old Cinema the other day while researching some interiors stuff - it's rather fabulous isn't it though indeed procey. Fab find on the cushions.
ReplyDeleteI think you know my stance on charity shop prices!! xx
I loveeee the grain sacks cushions! and gosh you're so lucky to get it for £3 each! i know what you mean about charity shops with their overpriced items, especially in the clothing section, i sometimes rather go to store 21 or wait for the sale in shops like H & M if i had to fork out £7 above clothes in charity shops! sorry you had a cold! hugssss
ReplyDeletexx susan
OMG! Those cushions are such a great find! I'm pretty jealous actually! ;)
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