Can't afford charity shops (From Salisbury Journal)

Can't afford charity shops

7:00am Thursday 14th February 2013 in Letters

WE are still in a recession, and with three major employers recent casualties of that recession, Britain will continue to bite back on spending, turning away from sales and back to charity shops that offer comforting respite from high street price tags.

Or will they?

Good luck to you, if you can still afford to shop in them.

Over the last four months I have made journeys to charity shops in Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset, and have come to the conclusion that I can no longer afford to shop there.

By afford, I mean that I’m not willing to pay £35 for a dog-eared winter coat that’s seen better days just because it’s from a charity shop, especially when struggling retailers are knocking their sale stock out at 70 per cent off.

Charities do need to price those items that are either un-used or designer accordingly to raise money, there’s no doubt about that, but it should be done with at least some knowledge of the difference between high street designer and haute couture (TKMaxx is neither).

One shop has a pair of Clarkes leather boots at £20, and I’ll agree that’s an absolute bargain, but they also have a pair of PVC boots on offer for £25. When I queried it, I was told that “the price on the box was much greater”.

What I couldn’t understand was the fact that the boots have been in the shop for seven weeks – seven weeks sitting on a shelf in a charity shop; doesn’t that tell you something?

It tells me that greed and ignorance of market value are ruining institutions that used to be respected, and unless charities start to listen, people will continue to speak up, by no longer getting their purses out.

S TANNER, Salisbury