When you live in Cradley Heath, the charity shops of Harborne feel kind of upmarket. Cradley Heath…read moreis all second hand Primark, Harborne is all rarely worn Marks and Spencer. This is a well presented and neat little shop that can turn up to occasional treasure. There's rarely much to get overly excited over, though I'm always impressed by the quality and condition of some of the wedding dresses. I saw two there on my last visit that were really pretty and priced up at £90.00. Budget conscious brideswould be well advised to pay this place a visit!

Based at the bottom end of the High Street near Iceland, this is a very well kept charity shop that…read moresells a good handbag. It also does a good range of bric-a-brac and glassware and often seems to have rather snazzy frocks - not neccesarily to my style as well the odd wedding dress. Prices are a little more expensive than some of the lesser known charities so probably comparable with Oxfam say.

Support Staffordshire Lichfield and District is a great third sector organisation which provides…read moredevelopment support and an active volunteer centre in addition to other services. However, this is a review for their meeting rooms. There are a range of meeting rooms available for hire. I use the therapy rooms which are inviting and neutrally decorated. The rooms are in a quiet location at the rear of the building whilst being well heated so your clients will be comfortably warm. The toilets are also clean, well maintained and conveniently positioned within the building. Booking is easy and takes a quick telephone call. There is an inviting reception area with seating and welcoming staff to greet your clients.

This is one of several charity shops in the main shopping area of Cotteridge and here you'll find…read moreall the normal things you'd expect from a charity shop. There is a decent selection of clothes, childrens toys, books, records, CDs and bric-a-brac. eBay has reduced the likelihood of finding bargain vinyl in charity shops these days, but I have picked up one or two things in this store that have made the trip worthwhile. As ever with a charity shop, you either get lucky or you don't, and repeat visits naturally increase your chances of success. Cotteridge, with it's numberous charity outlets, is on my radar and I try to scope it out at least once a month or so.

Halesowen is charity shop central with each one having a different feel or level of stock to…read moreexplore. This is one of the smaller charity shops but it has some good quality goodies to explore. What I particularly love is that despite their small size they make a point of creating a vintage section in the small clothing stock they have. This included accessories as well as clothing and really saved time for me scouting the store as I knew the car parking time was running out. The focus for this store is definitely on the book side of things with a good range of really old books and more modern fiction. What I would say is that the number of staff seem to outweigh the customers massively, which makes the store seem busy and more cramped as you navigate loitering staff with no real purpose.

Fantastic place to retire too. It's for over 55's, some of the apartments have balconies and has…read morelot's of things all under one roof: Library, cafe, pub, hairdresser, 2 x craft centres (sewing/art and woodwork), gym + jaccuzi, ballroom, shop etc.

this shop is the best run charity shop in Sutton coldfield the staff are very friendly welcoming…read morewe are regulars and it's got a lovely family atmosphere and we love it -I go to this shop most days and wouldn't shop anywhere else! they sell great clothes and shoes excellent presentation! well done Shirley and all her team EXCELLENT from Mo and Keira

One of Sutton's oldest charity shops as far as I know (I first ventured in there in about 1994) and…read moreone of it's smartest and most welcoming, Save the Children has always been a favourite charity shop of mine because it's the sort of shop it's almost impossible to find a bad word for (not that I'm trying). This shop deals in a lot of clothes, a fair few books, some children's toys and board games and a handful of records. It's recently had a refit but still exudes the same warm, charity shop charm it has always had. This being Sutton Coldfield, the quality of the cast-offs is pretty damn high so you can be sure that the books are usually in good nick (and usually quite modern) although I'm in no position to comment on the quality of the middle-aged women's blouses or skirts.

This place is your archetypal community centre, providing an important service to the residents of…read morethe Billesley and Yardley Wood area. I used to attend the centre to take my greyhound Tom to dog training classes, the less said about that experience the better. What impressed me was the amount of activities which appeared to be taking place here with the notice board indicating all manner of communal activities scheduled to take place. Whilst the decor itself could do with updating the purpose of the centre is an inherently good one and it is a lead which more local communities should follow.

Although this is only a small shop in comparison to the other 3 or 4 charity shops on this road, it…read moreis striving with business. There is always plenty of stock in and the staff are friendly. They organized a wedding fashion show a few years back too, offering designer dresses at a cut of the price! There is a small amount of parking, but should probably be only used to drop items off and not to shop!