Over the last two decades more and more Charity/Thrift shops have been appearing on the High Streets. They offer a wide variety of donated second hand goods which are offered for sale on behalf of a specific charity. Most people will be familiar with the concept of Charity or Thrift shops but many have undergone big changes over the last couple of years.You can still find some which are a jumble of stock with items, many with no prices scattered all over the place. However, these days the charities are realising the value of well-run charity shops and many now employ full time managers to ensure that their shop is run to generate as large a profit for the charity as possible.

In some cases at first glance it can be difficult to distinguish the Charity shop from other retailers. This is especially true where the charity sells a mixture of new and second hand items. It is not only in the area of display that many charity shops have improved, they are also getting much smarter when it comes to pricing items. Larger Charities in the UK such as OxFam, Scope and The British Heart Foundation are leading the way in maximising the prices they get for donated items.Oxfam are possibly the leaders in the Charity shop industry. They have strict rules as to regards the quality of the items they offer for sale. Also they have a volunteer team of experts who will value any potentially valuable items that are donated to ensure they get the maximum return. Consequently the shops of these larger may not be the places to go looking for real bargains.The smaller local charities tend to sell their items for less but equally they may not be as selective to the standard of the items they accept. It is worth rummaging around in these types of shop as you will often find designer label clothes and accessories mixed in with run of the mill items. Whatever you are looking for these local charity shops are where bargains can still be found. Those run by Hospices and local animal charities are especially good for this.

Another option is to concentrate on visiting charity shops in exclusive areas. The quality of items donated in areas where high earners live is likely to be much higher than those donated to shops in the inner city areas. Equally so they volunteers are more likely to recognise the value of the items and price them accordingly. Even so a designer label dress or suit at about 10% or 20% of its new cost is going to be a real bargain for someone.