Are Charity Shops the Way Forward for High Street Shopping?

I finally managed to get myself to the Vintage Section in the Douglas Macmillan Hospice shop in Stoke Town Centre.

On 14th February 2013, the Stoke Town Centre branch of Douglas Macmillan Charity Shops opened their back room to the public; a tiny little wonderland of Vintage loveliness. The items ranged from all kinds of lovely stockings (still in their original packaging) to a 1960's oven and hobs!

It's decorated in a brilliantly eccentric manner; with all the stockings and lingerie displayed in a gorgeous Vintage bedside dresser, all jewellery and small accessories hung on a lovely larger dresser, with a board and hooks and Vintage vinyl records lining the walls around the displays. On top of the lovely atmosphere and selection, everything is also incredibly low in price.

This is the amazing haul from my first trip! Everything came to an incredible £22 together.

 

I managed to find a gorgeous Red, wide brimmed hat, decorated with an absolutely darling oversized bow and wide spaced netting and a gorgeous cherry red colour.

Very fairly priced at £4. My 10 month old kitten, Odin, just could not resist the sound of my camera shutter.

Lovely bright red, real leather, sling-back, kitten heel shoes.

With a quaint little pin-prick pattern over the toes, also £4.

A gorgeous dark cream/ coffee coloured ruffle and pussy bow shirt.

A little bit stained, but some TLC will sort it out, £4.

A large, black, lace shawl that is soft as silk.

And may well be silk, a steal at £2.

A Handmade headdress.

Due to the nature of handmade objects and my only just budding knowledge of vintage clothing, I cannot tell if it would be "vintage" or vintage-styled... Either way, it was far too beautiful to leave in the shop; £2

And  four pairs of different colours, real vintage (and still in original, unopened packaging) full fashioned stockings!

An unbelievable price at £1.50 per pair, considering similar items easily reach 10x that on eBay.

I wholeheartedly believe that charity shops are one of the most amazing places to buy clothes and accessories. Besides the fact that you may well be donating your money to well deserving causes (in this case, The Douglas Macmillan Hospice, who do fantastic work caring for local terminally ill patients and their families), the clothes are in fantastic condition and just imagine the amazing stories that could be behind them?... Then there is the matter of cost. 

In this case I got an incredible selection of goods for only £22; had I bought them from online Vintage boutiques it would have cost me an arm and a leg (or a whopping great mark on my credit rating). The only downside is, unless you are an expert or have previously done all appropriate research, it can be incredibly hard to accurately date your new purchases. I haven't yet attempted to date my new goodies as I simply have not got the knowledge... But keep reading on as I attempt to improve this, and hopefully impart some wisdom ;)