Last night I watched with interest the first episode of Mary Queen of Charity Shops. I was intrigued to see what Mary Portas, with her great track record in retail would make of the jumble sale mentality of Britains Charity Shops, and a little curious to see wether she would make my shopping experiences as bland and unadventurous as the rest of the High Street, or just stop me having to check pockets carefully for used condoms before I plunge my hands in.
Mary is evidently a great Manager, it was fascinating to watch her bring the volunteer staff of the Orpington Save the Children store out of their comfort zones and get them doing things that, in their 80s, they probably never thought they would do. The program was a brilliantly fascinating insight into what goes on behind the scenes, and I look forward to the rest of the series.
I certainly can’t argue with her that some of the “donations” were nothing more than an easy place to leave your rubbish (dirty, mouldy, damp rugby boots anyone?) or that Charity Shops need a coherent pricing policy and a stock room you can actually walk through without mountaineering boots and a rope.
Where I disagree with Mary Portas is in thinking that Charity Shops need to become more like High Street shops to survive and move forward.
Part of the charm of Charity Shopping (or thrift shopping) is the sense of discovery, and that little twinge of excitement that comes as you move aside racks of polyester tat and find a beautiful silk blouse. As I watched Mary Portas dismiss piles of clothes as rubbish that I could see sitting happily as part of my own wardrobe I felt a little sad.
I can’t help but feel that the way to revitalise the British Charity Shop isn’t to scrub it’s stock of anything unusual, unfashionable or a little bit tired, but to try and convince people that they DO have time for the rummage, that fashion isn’t about buying the exact dress that was featured on the pages of Grazia, but about seeing emerging trends and interpreting them for yourself.
I also can’t help but blame Charity Shops themselves a little bit for the lack of quality donations. Many ask you not to leave donations outside the door, but to bring them in when they are open, but this is at times when people are at work, and the people at work are the people with money to spend, and therefore the people with quality items to dispose of. Why are there no Charities getting volunteers to man a stall on Saturday in shopping centres, taking in donations so that the people out spending money can drop in their old stuff? I know some charities, like Oxfam (who also have an online shop) and TRAID provide donation bins, but why isn’t this more widespread?
The fabulous Vikki Chowney organised a swish for Global Cool last week (which I was sadly unable to attend, but watch this space for some Goodie Bags to giveaway!) and donated a bag of leftover clothing to Oxfam. Why aren’t the Charity Shops doing this for themselves to revitalise their stock and recruit new, younger, volunteers to the fold?
I’d love Charity Shops to be clean, well organised and to make some fantastic money for their respective charities but, and the fact is from what I see every day many of them already are.
As they rely on donations for stock, they can’t target themselves at a market like a High Street store and it would be sad to see them alienate the bargain hunters and the make do and menders of all ages without fully appealing to the savvy, time pressed, High Street shopper.
I think if that happens, everybody loses.
I don’t think Mary Portas is a person who has spent a lot of time in Charity Shops recently, and I’m fascinated to see how the series progresses. I have no doubt that she can take this one failing shop, and her current “Living & Giving” pop-up shop in The Village at Westfield London and make them an overwhelming success. Wether it’s sustainable, not only for a national chain of Charity Shops, but to be replicated by all the other Charities is doubtful to me.
Photos by back_garage and net_efekt
You make some fabulous points. I too like the charm of charity shops, and such a big part of that shopping experience is the exploration. Charity shops do need to make more money, but need to stay true to their roots too. If they do that, they will have found the winning formula.
I agree, great points. I missed the show but read about it beforehand. I can see her strategy as an ideal approach to making charity shops more financially viable, but as you say it takes the charm away from charity shopping. Doesn’t her plan put them in direct competition with the high street shops and also likely result in a loss of their core customers who are looking for a unique experience as opposed to a homogenised one?
It will be interesting to see how this plays out…
Great points raised in your blog and I can guess from your vintage business that you’re well placed to comment!
As a shop-owner I’ve watched Mary’s other ‘queen of shops’ series with interest and she’s always very keen in bringing a shop’s USPs to the fore and always to create a sense of thatre in the shopping experience.
I suppose to get rid of that ‘rooting through’ to find a gem would be sad, but hopefully she won’t get rid of that completely – more organise stock and make it less bewildering for consumers who don’t visit as regularly.
I think to get people to donate less rubbish is a worthy campaign in itself. Our shop is situated next to two very good charity shops and people indiscriminately sling rubbish bags full of rubbish into our door! They sometimes spli and we have to pick up the mangey things they think the charity would want and this is from the affluent people of Stratford!
I feel sorry that charity shops now see the backend of the consumer throwaway fashion… they all seem to be full of Primark castoffs which simply are mostly not made for more than a few seasons’ wear.
I wouldn’t want to discourage “rubbish” clothes donations entirely because it’s possible to make quite decent amounts by selling it on as rag for fibre reclamation. The thing is to be ruthless about sorting stuff once you have it.
I’m sure you’re right about the “rummage” aspect too. We get fairly vitriolic comments at our shops because some shoppers object to us ragging poor-quality clothes instead of putting them out in the shop.
Will be very interesting if there’s a decline in the complaints as a result of people seeing the program & realising we are only obeying orders!
Really interesting comments from everyone!
I love to hear other peoples opinions on it.
I had heard from someone else that Charity Shops made money on rag trade sales, so I’d never worried too much about sending unwearable items, thinking it was better than landfill!
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I am so far really dissapointed by this show. I work in Oxfam and have seen some horrors donated, but think her show is only instilling the thought that most charity shops are full of tatty old rubbish, which is not true. Also discouraging people to bring clothes unless brand-new designer quality is unrealistic and unattainable, especially when at the moment (credit crunch blah blah) less people are donating.
I could rant more but i shall stop,haha =)
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Hi,I run a charity shop and there are 2 things a charity shop needs a good manager and lots of nice volunteers,which we have in our shops.I do all the sorting of clothes and get rag money for the ones what arent saleable and steam and price the nice ones only,then to keep the charity shop feel we have bargain baskets like all tshirts 50p,and cut price on a sat.we always hit our targets,vols are mixed ages and are very co-operative we did nearly £2000 last week.come and buy modern clothes from Help The Aged in hillsborough,Sheffield.xxx
Donation bins require more money and volunteers than the charities might have, your two examples aren’t the smallest of organisations.
You make an excellent point about why charity shops shouldn’t look like the High Street. I volunteer for Books For Amnesty and thought Mary Portas had a couple of very good ideas like D Day. However, there was so much she didn’t seem to know about the charity or volunteer sector, which made the programme something of a disappointment.
I drove down Orpington High Street today and I reckon the only thing wrong with Save the Children’s shop is that it is in the wrong place.
There are 7 or 8 other charity shops in the main area of footfall round Tesco, Boots, Smiths, the Post Office and the bus stops. Save the Children is right down the other end where shoppers have no reason to go.
The money spent on the revamp would have been better used to hire new premises – plenty of empty retail sites in the recession.
merci! post très utile!