Barnardo’s

this is one of the charity shops in didsbury village. slightly pricy. sometimes an atmosphere shirt is sold for 4.99 which is not really helpful considering brand new price is 5.99.they have cards and gift bags which is handy. staff is nice.

Opening in the cleansed carcass that was the wonderful Didsbury Village Store, this new breed of Charity Shop welcomes itself to Didsbury.
With plenty of such stores in nearby Withington I can’t say I had any need to travel to the old Village Store but when I did I appreciated the vast range of goods (mostly necessities) it stocked.
This is a fresh looking charity shop and I suppose the slightly higher prices (in comparison to the likes of help the aged and RSPCC) reflect the cosmetic aspects. It’s bright and green (not to dissimilar to a kids shoe shop in our North European county neighbours) and seems to somehow draw the pleasant box like building it’s based in.
They stock a diverse range of goods: from quality wooden toys to fine looking whisky decanters (I toyed with the idea of getting this, but it wasn’t quite the same as the one in Don Draper’s office in Mad Menbesides I rarely drink whisky); labelled fashion wear to a second hand book shop section.
I picked up a book I’d been after for some time (reasonably priced booksslightly higher than the aforementioned shops but less than Oxfam).
The missus popped by later on in the week and picked up a flouncy dress which she’s very pleased with. I spotted a mint condition Pringle jersey but the colour was the wrong side of arrestable.
Still, it’s an art form Charity Shopping. I’ll definitely be back here for another browse. Past visits to other shops left my synapses on ‘wired’ mode. I think it was the musty smell, the haunted dolls, the 70’s jigsaws and the heater in the corner blasting out waves of fright towards my being.
Barnardo’s is an all together different, 21^st Century affair, much like Oxfam.
See you in there fighting over the hidden gems