A huge charity shop with one half dedicated to clothes and the other half books and DVDs. They have…read morenew DVDs every time I'm in and they're the cheapest in town, at £1. The books are pretty good too, I recently managed to get some Jamie Oliver cookbooks really cheap! The china section is always well stocked with good variety. - I recently spotted a fondue set in great condition! Although, the clothes section isn't as good as other charity shops in town and I've never really been taken by anything they have on offer in that side of the shop. Saying that, I love popping in since it's just opposite my flat and is one of the best and most reasonably priced charity shops about. My favourite purchase has been a 17 foot rug for only £10 which fits snugly in my hallway!

This branch of Barnardos is so good that I always pop in when I am walking past. Located on the…read morebusy Gorgie Road, it sells your usual charity shop stock as well as furniture. The furniture here sells like hot cakes as the stock always seems to be displaying "Sold" tickets. The furniture can be a bit pricey for second hand, but some of it is in really great condition. I have no idea where it comes from. I like to think that rich people around Edinburgh get bored of their furniture very easily so donate it here. The non-furniture part of the store has a great book selection which is usually my reason for going in. There is a "classics" section which stocks authors such as Dickens, Jane Austin etc. They also sell textbooks which came in quite handy when I happened to pop by and they had my course text book for a fiver as opposed to £45 on Amazon. I don't really do charity shop clothes as I always find it is generally middle aged, plump women who donate and being neither of these things I don't find anything I like. This shop hasn't jumped on the vintage bandwagon yet, but I am sure this will come. I panicked the day before New Years Eve because I realised I didn't have champagne glasses for our party. Instead of paying £10 in Sainsburys I picked some up in here for 29p each. Bargain!

I don't think I've seen a charity shop with as much as Barnardo's on Gorgie Road. There are three…read moreparts to this shop - the normal store, the furniture section and a wedding section as well. I went in to the normal part of the store this morning, primarily to have a browse of their DVD section. I'm so often guilty of bypassing charity shops to find my bargains elsewhere. There's always the worry that you never quite know what you're buying in terms of quality. While this may be the case, you can't knock this shop for its range of stock. You may find that you have to hunt the DVD section for a while to find what you're after, as they didn't seem to be in any sort of order, but there was a good selection of older films right up to more recent ones as well. The shop has much else besides DVDs. There's a healthy collection of books that fill a large number of shelves, as well as clothes. I didn't have time to investigate the other two sections of the shop, but they too seem to be well-stocked. This shop probably does great business, and you can shop here with the knowledge that you're helping out a worthy cause.

I ALWAYS hear about Shelter. Shelter this Shelter that. Shelter's the best charity shop, etc. And I…read moredo like it, though I've never found anything at all that suited me there. But it's never lived up to the rumours that always precede it. It's a bogstandard charity shop. It has books, it has dvds, cds, records (not many of these) and it has clothes, of course. The thing with charity shops is that the quality (and quantity) is dependent upon the location of the charity shop. Stockbridge shops are pretty good because rich people live there. Marchmont charity shops (the one) are good because there's a huge turnover of students. This Forrest Road one, not that great, but decent. See, there's a huge turnover of students, but there's also huge traffic that goes through that area, and buys the good stuff from the shop. But Shelter is definitely on the higher end of charity shops, so stop by and have a wander.

This is a great little charity shop with a wide selection of secondhand clothes, both ladies' and…read moregents', as well as a small but well stocked book section towards the back, brik a brak and various new kitchen items sold at discounted prices. The staff are generally friendly and helpful. The only criticism I would have of this shop is that it is quite cramped - although there are a great number of good quality items the shop floor is quite small and this gives the feeling that as much as possible has been crammed into far too small a space. It is difficult for two people to pass one another in the aisles, however there are generally no more than 4-5 people in the shop at any one time. A good place to pick up some bargains as Shelter's pricing is very reasonable.

This is a well stocked charity shop with a good range of bric-a-brac and all for a good cause, of…read morecourse. I particularly like browsing through the book sections in charity shops and they had a whole section called "Old and Interesting" with some pretty old school books including old film reviews which I thought was pretty cool. The staff here are friendly and on my visit they were busy working away organising new stock onto the shelves. They also have a section with brand new items including gardening accessories such as cool watering cans and gloves. They also had a box of rubber ducks for £1.99 a pop.

This is possibly the cheapest of the central charity shops especially if you are looking for books…read more Even the best books which you won't find anywhere else for less than about £3 will be found here at £1.50 if you are lucky enough to stumble upon them. However, due to the cheapness of these items the stock moves fairly quickly so a one off visit is not always very successful. The bric-a-brac section is also very good with a selection of kitchen appliances usually available. These are very tempting at the prices and I did have to stop myself from buying a second kettle. All in this shop is cheap, but this does mean that the best items don't spend long in the shop.

The Bagpus charity shop on Tollcross is a typical local charity shop. You have the mandatory…read morebookcase, clothes racks, ornaments and minimal items of furniture. The prices continue on this level and you start to realise that these are prices of a local charity shop in a small town, yet the charity shop is in the middle of the city. The result of all this is that you get a fantastic amount of bargains. You may think I'm exaggerating, but let me tell you a story of the best deal I've ever had in a charity shop. One day I walk in and there's two books (Agatha Christie's if you are interested) for 50p each; not a bad deal I thought so I bought them both. Then a week later I'm back in and now they have more of these books, but now at 30p so I ended up buying 5 more - 5 books for £1.50. For some of the more expensive charity book shops you can't even buy one book for £1.50, this really is a great value for money shop.

This place is great for finding a bargain and I have to admit, with the City full of charity shops,…read morethis little gem is sure competition. Located in the pretty area of Bruntsfield this place seems to gather some very decent stock (with regards to ladies clothing) and occasionally some big designers make a short appearance on the racks, before being whipped up by my more experienced charity shopper friend. Because of its small size and location it seems to be quite a quiet place- at least the couple of times I have been in. Worth a visit even if it is just to browse.

A charity shop is only as good as what is donated to it. Therefore this shop must recieve some…read morepretty good donations. I always find myself walking by and being drawn to something in the window. For instance, we bought season 1,2,3 and 4 of 24 on DVD in perfect condition from here. The price? £24! Yes we paid £24 for 24. Haha. Seemed like someone had watched it once and then donated it. How could you do that to Jack Buar? Watch him once and then discard him after everything he has done... But then I'm not complaining because it was a great bargain for me. And it makes it so much better to be helping a charity at the same time. Seriously if you are in the area, all the charity shops on Dalry Road are worth a look because there is some fantastic bargains on offer.

This Dalry Road branch of Shelter is somewhat small and as it's located right beside a busy bus…read morestop it can get a bit of a push to make your way in and out but it's definitely worth a browse. It's well equipped with a good selection of goodies including; -Clothing -CD's -DVD's -Toys second hand and a small selection of brand new accessories -Bric-a-brac. Definitely worth a look, especially if you like browsing round charity shops as they have a great selection here.

The British Heart Foundation charity store, located on a street full of charity shops, manages to…read morestand out because of its impressive window display of the latest items available in the store. This shop is literally packed with everything you can expect from DVDs to clothes to books and bric-a-brac. As with all charity shops it's ideal to browse, and best if you aren't looking for something particular or else have a vague idea of what you want (i.e a white t shirt for a dress up). The prices are not the lowest on the street but it's still worth a browse around and in both cases that I have been in here the staff have been super friendly!

I nipped in here for a wee browse last week and it really is crammed to bursting. Most charity…read moreshops only have a couple of second hands videos/DVD's but they literally have hundreds here all very well organised and easy to browse. To be fair, if you go to somewhere like Fopp or HMV you will probably get brand new ones for cheaper but I guess you're getting a reasonably cheap item plus you're giving to a good cause so if you're feeling in a giving mood maybe head here. They had a great selection of clothes and if you take the time to browse I'm sure there's lots of pretty items just waiting to be uncovered. They also have an extensive range of knick knacks and I had my eye on a candle holder shaped like an old flip flop, one of the funniest designs I've ever seen, I'm surprised the original owner could bear to part with it.

I do love a charity shop! And this one is a serious contender for my favourite in Stirling. The…read morestaff are really friendly and helpful and they always have a great range of stock and cracking window displays! I'm a sucker for a vintage section so you'll usually find me snooping about that corner of the shop, amidst all manner of quirky vintage attire. I'm usually not one for the Bric a Brac section in charity shops but I've found quite a few gems in here. Most recently, I was taken by a little oriental bowl (which I use for rock salt in the kitchen!) and a cute vintage perfume dispenser with a little pump. They were both a heck of a bargain at £1 for the bowl and £2 for the perfume pump! Even better, they had a sale on. - Everything was 3 for 2! I also bought a lovely vintage shirt which meant I got the bowl for free. Result! They often get old stock from retail stores, most commonly H&M. It's great that you can get these clothes, unworn, for a fraction of their retail price. The only thing I would say is that, for me, this takes away the one thing I love most about charity shopping! - The fact that you'll never know who wore the garment before you or where it came from. I just love the real mystery of never knowing what you might find and imagining just who the items belonged to previously! Because of these donations, there are often many duplicates in the store and they are usually there for quite some time. I don't think I've ever bought one of these garments as I usually head straight on over to the vintage clothing. Nonetheless, this is a brilliant shop and one of the places I always visit when I'm in town. Something usually always catches my eye and it's one of the more reasonably priced charity shops. An added bonus is that British Cross have a 'Give & Gain' loyalty card meaning you can save up points for discount vouchers or donate your points to British Red Cross projects. Charity shops have never been cooler. Go forth and spend!

Nice little shop. Quite small…read more Mainly good for weird clothing and bric a brac