Charity Shopping with Mum

Today my Mum and I went and did a little bit of charity shopping. I haven’t been charity shopping for ages as I find them a bit expensive these days and so tend to stick to carboots. However, I travel all over Warwickshire, Coventry, Birmingham and Leicestershire with work and have started writing down some streets where there are a few charity shops clustered together. Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth are relatively affluent areas and I wanted to see if the prices were any more reasonable in more deprived areas.

Today we went to a row of charity shops and a house clearance shop in one area of Coventry and I was pleased to find that in general the prices were much more reasonable and there were quite a variety of vintage bits and bobs. I tend to find that the charity shops local to me not only wack a massive big price tag on anything remotely vintage (although I have also seen second hand books priced higher than Waterstones), but that they often lack the kitsch bits and pieces I like because they’ve probably been deemed unfit for the shop and chucked in the bin.

Our first stop was the house clearance shop, which was mainly full of newish furniture. As I was having a second glance over everything I saw a plastic bin with a hideous 60s plant sticking out of the top and had a rummage. I pulled out two white Scottie dogs (yay!) and a long necked cat vase/ornament. One of the Scotties was a bit worse for wear with a glued on ear, but I thought it was mean to take one and leave the other. They’ll look a handsome pair on my fireplace once I’ve painted over the hideous dark varnish ( it was from Ebay) with a nice matt white.

Next, some charity shops on a lovely old semi-circle row. I’m not very good at dating buildings but I’d say the row was 1930s due to the art deco feel, although most of Coventry is made up of 50s and 60s architecture since it was bombed to oblivion during WW2. I bought the most in the first shop and left with a big box full of decorative bits and bobs. In the other shops I picked up some vintage Ladybird books, which will probably end up on my Bicycle Bazaar stall or Vintage and Homemade Fair Stall, more of which later.

One thing that I nearly resisted was this 80s Madonna ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ style leather jacket, but I just loved the lace on it and it was my size so I treated myself. Or rather my Mum temporarily treated me to it as I had to borrow all my shopping money from her until the end of the week. Thanks Mum! I thought it was a bit overpriced at £14.99, but maybe I’m just stingy. As I had to remind myself, how much would you pay for a vintage rip-off in Topshop.

Some of my finds will be at the Vintage and Homemade Fair, organised by Ann and Debbie in October.