I've always been a big fan of charity shops. They're one of the few places on the high street where you can buy cheap clothes with a clear conscience and it's fun hunting through clothes rails and boxes of bric-a-brac, never knowing what you might fi
nd.
As a poor student, charity shops helped spice up my wardrobe, kit out my kitchen and provided me with my first sofa and dining table.
Even after graduating, I've never lost the charity shop habit and find it almost impossible to walk past one without popping in.
With the birth of my son last year, they've proved an invaluable source for toys, books and second-hand baby clothes while nearly all my crockery, cutlery and kitchenware have come from them.
Surprisingly, charity shops are a relatively new addition to the high street, the first one – an Oxfam shop in Oxford – opening its doors in 1947.
Since then, they've gone from strength to strength and today there are nearly 7000 of them scattered across the UK, selling a mixture of second-hand clothing, bric-a-brac, household furniture, fairly traded goods and other trinkets.
Despite what you might think, though, charity shops aren't a licence to print money. In fact, they're an incredibly inefficient way of raising funds, selling relatively cheap items while still having to fork out for rent, heating and store managers.
In recent years, they've also had to contend with the rise of
eBay the popular online auction site, and carboot sales, both of which encourage people to make money from their unwanted belongings rather than giving them away for free. Then there's competition from Freecycle (www.freecycle.org), too, an online message board where you can give away stuff you don't need and pick up what you do.
On top of all this, we're now at the beginning of a recession. It means more of us are going to choose to hang on to what we've got instead of donating it to the local charity shop.
Both Barnardo's and Marie Curie Cancer Care reported a fall in profits recently, blaming a shortage of donated goods to sell in their stores while similar concerns have been raised by a host of other charities, including Cancer Research UK and Mind.
According to the Ethical Consumerism Report, published by the Co-operative Bank, trading at charity shops has fallen by a third in just a couple of years with eBay fingered as the main culprit.
So does this spell the end of the charity shop as we know it? I hope not. They're an excellent way of recycling unwanted clobber, with the added bonus that all the money raised goes to good causes.
They're also a vital part of a community, providing work for volunteers and offering second-hand goods at a fraction of their original cost.
Personally, I'd like to see a move towards specialist charity shops, rather than ones crammed full of general bric-a-brac.
Oxfam, British Heart Foundation and several other charities have already experimented with these so-called 'boutique' shops that specialise in books, vintage clothing, electrical goods, household furniture or even, in one case, bridal wear.
It'd mean each charity shop on the high street would have a distinctive character and identity, rather than the current situation were we have several competing shops offering pretty much the same mix of second-hand clothing and household items.
But what do you think? Is your local charity shop thriving in the current economic climate or is it finding it difficult to stock its shelves with saleable items? How would you like to see charity shops evolve?
Write in and let us know. In the meantime, don't forget to have a rummage in your attic for potential donations and take them along to your local charity shop – they'll be gratefully received I'm sure.
