If I pass a charity shop I have to go in and have a look as you never know what you are going to…read morefind. I love it even more when you find good quality charity shops with a range of stock and interesting books. In this one they had a range of recent books that I sadly already owned but I still came out with a great little find for a bargainous price. They have a small range of new stock and its not the biggest charity shop but its well worth a visit to Northfield to check them all out.

I regularly donate to this British Heart Foundation store. They're often making appeals for more…read morestock and I feel compelled to give them a lot stuff that I don't really need but cling on to until I have good reasons to depart with it. And giving it to a charity store gives no better reason to depart with it. The store is a miscellany of unwanted stuff, you can sometimes find nothing that interests you, other times many things. It really depends on what has been recently donated. I wish preventable heart condition weren't so prevalent, but they are. And British Heart Foundation make the admirable effort to help those affected directly and indirectly by all the conditions that can unfortunately cause our hearts to falter.

Not a good company. My brother in only his name contested our dad's Will that was left to Acorns…read moreChildrens Hospice. He won a large amount back of the money from the sale of our dad's property. But have left me out after going with all the doc's I had only 2 weeks after finding out what my brother had done. They have allowed my brother to have a large amount but I have been left out. Very professional.

The Acorns charity shop in Great Barr is one of many across the West Midlands. From ladies and mens…read moreclothing to games and DVD's, these are some of the things on offer at the charity shop. You can get some real bargains at these shops so it really is worth going to Acorns. For every purchase you make from Acorns, the money will help to care for vulnerable children in the heart of England in addition to raising awareness of environmental issues. Acorns is a charity that has close links with Aston Villa Football Club. The staff are really friendly and they will help you if you have any questions. If you do have anything you don't need, give it to a charity shop. I have purchased some items from Acorns and the staff at Acorns really appreciate the fact the money is going towards a great cause. You never know what you will find at Acorns retail shops. You might just find yourself a bargain.

Another of Harborne's very many Charity shops. This place is at the mid-point of the high street so…read moreif you plan on doing the whole lot in one go, this might be a good place to call it half-time and have a bite to eat in Cafe Express across the road. As with all charity shops, this is a fairly mixed bag of clothes, books and records, toys and bric-a-brac. You might be lucky and find a bargain, you never know. Personally speaking I'll always have a soft spot for this particular charity shop as it was here, at some point in the late 1990s, that I picked up a mint condition vinyl copy of Don't Stand Me Down by Dexys Midnight Runners for a glorious £1. As such each time I go in the shop these days I head straight for the records, but lightning has thus far failed to strike twice. I live in hope...

This used to be my favourite charity shop in Harborne - but in recent years they seem to have…read morebranched more into gifts and merchandise. Whilst I love cute animals as much as the next man I'm not sure I want to own stuff covered in the them but if you need a kitten calendar or a key ring in the shape of a paw then you will love this place. They also have a pretty good range of bric-a-brac, nice handbags and a bargain rail where you can sometimes pick up something for a steal. Staff in the shop are absolutely lovely and they always play quite nice music in there (Al Green today) too.

I picked up a Jack Kerouac book from here recently, of which I was very pleased to discover after…read morean exhausting search for some of his more obscure literature. They have a good (and unusual) selection of books and records, which I suppose is a reflection of Kings Heath inhabitant's interests - what interesting people I live amongst! And seeing as all of the trading that the goes on in this store is to aid a good cause, I am more than willing to spend a couple of quid here and there in exchange for some beat generation musings to sustain Oxfam's humanitarian activities in some way, shape or form around the world. Lovers of literature and music Oxfam Kings Heath is there (just maybe) to cater for your tastes.

This is another of Oxfam's dedicated bookshops and so is always worth popping in…read more As there are a large number of musicians, music fans and the like in the Moseley and Kings Heath areas, the record and music books section is often well stocked with interesting things. I've got a couple of really interesting music books in there in recent times, and some of them have been quite recent releases. The records are pretty good, also, although appear to be priced according to Oxfam's rather rigid price structure and as such can be just one or two quid over the odds. Last Christmas I was look for old Beano annuals for a friend's kid who was collecting them. Having seen that there were none on the shelves I asked at the counter on the off chance there were some in stock. The bloke behind the counter kindly had a rummage about in the storeroom and returned some minutes later with a handful, and this kind of service is indicative of what you might expect in this store.

This is a great little charity shop. It has reasonaby cheap stock, and this tends to come from posh…read moreareas so it's all good quality stuff! They have a generally fairly good book section, and lots of ornaments and collectibles, although these can sometimes be a little steeply priced, but it's all for charity so who can blame them ;) The staff are always friendly. There is usually a good selection of second-hand furniture, and they will deliver it for you if needs be. Much better than the Acorns shop round the corner. Free parking, though you do sometimes have to park at the other end of the shopping centre! If you're visiting, please note that they close at 4.30 every day.

Oh my gosh, I love rummaging through this charity shop! It doesn't sell much in the way of…read moreclothing, more furniture, ornaments, crockery and glassware. They have big furniture items like wardrobes, beds and dressing tables - all at ridiculously low prices. I saw a fabulous 1950s dressing table in there a couple of months back and they wanted £25.00 for it. I love looking at the glassware - I've picked up some very cool Babycham glasses from there (£3 each) as well as some pretty pressed glass serving bowls and vases. They must get a lot of stock from house clearances - there are complete dinner services and tea sets to be snapped up. There is a glass cabinet by the till containing jewellery and more collectable items, though even these items are still really cheap. I love going in around Christmas time, as it makes a great place to pick up "vintage" style stocking fillers without breaking the bank.

The ongoing recession has seen a surge in demand for charity shops. Consumerism is still in full…read moreforce in today's society, we just do not have the funds to support it. So we are increasingly turning to charity shops to fulfill our materialistic desires. British Heart Foundation is a worthy cause. Some would suggest that the NHS should cover all areas of healthcare and charity should be reserved for issues abroad. I agree with this perspective to a certain extent, but I am also thankful for the work the Foundation does in trying to raise awareness of heart related health issues. The British Heart Foundation also puts a great deal of its money into research for medicines that save lives. The selection of books in store is not great. Expect plenty of Mills and Boon and read copies of The DaVinchi Code. The clothing selection is quite nice due to the amount of 18-35's that inhabit the area. I wouldn't have a problem finding something that suits my style and age range in here. Many charity shops operate in Kings Heath and British Heart Foundation is one worth checking out.

This is a well-presented charity shop situated on Kings Heath High Street…read more I rarely find clothes or handbags in here as the kind of stuff they get seems to be more modern, you'd be unlikely to find a novel vintage find in here. They do however, tend to get some good DVDs in although they are a bit pricier than most charity shops I've found some really rare £20+ DVDs in there for a fiver which is pretty good going! The staff are really, really friendly in here, the nice lady who normally works there likes to have a little chat and is keen to help. Another strong point is there is rarely any charity shop musty smell in here, it's very clean and usually smells very fresh!

Say what you like about them, there's something great about a good charity shop. I don't…read morenecessarily mean good as in tidy, or even with good stuff in. It's more about a vibe, an ambience. It's possibly the sort of ambience that thrift shops and crap 'vintage' shops try and give off; but that's the problem: They try and put across that kind of atmosphere. The best thing about the best charity shops is they don't try. Wait, no. The best thing about charity shops is that no-one bothers you in them. There's no grinning, false tosspot with a 'customer journey-ladder' (or similarly ridiculous implement) shoved up their backside, trying to get you to buy stuff. Personally, if I go in a charity shop that doesn't have a retired lady behind the counter with a cup of tea, whilst a dyed-blonde, 40-something manager has a quiet fag out the back, I feel uneasy. If, like me, you yearn for spring mornings spent looking up and down racks of late-90s CD singles or wet Wednesday afternoons checking out the spines of 30p paperbacks; always seeking that elusive thing you've been after for ages, or stumbling upon something new you've never heard of (well, it's worth a go for 45p) then I could recommend many, many great charity shops in Birmingham. Sutton Coldfield's Settlement Shop gets the nod over the others, because it's one shop I've frequented for years and always fulfils my hitherto unanalysed expectations of what a great British charity shop is about. The volunteers are never less than friendly, the books are always in order (the unspoken mark of a charity shop that cares) and the records are - by and large - cheap. There's genuine warmth to the place, which makes one glad that such places and people still exist. In a time when a lot of charity shops have gone inflationary and what one might have cost 20p is now labelled at a tenner; Sutton's Settlement Shop, and all the others I've visited (including Wylde Green, Boldmere and Erdington) keep ploughing their humble, homely furrow. 1989 novelty tie? £15 stereo with twin-cassette deck? Obscure board game? Brown and cream food blender with yellowing instruction manual? Fishing DVDs? What more could the eclectic drifter and borderline hoarder want? It goes without saying (though I'm saying it anyway) that despite the customer angle of this review, charity shops exist to raise money for worthwhile causes. The Settlement Shop for instance is a Birmingham-based charity helping the poor, old and young in our city. I don't wanna get guilt-trippy on ya 'cos that's not why I go round these places but I dunno why prats like Mary Portas moan about the amount of charity shops 'cos they're doing good work for someone somewhere. That the Sutton Settlement Shop do it by providing me with endless amounts of books (in this very shop I stumbled on an expensive student edition of King Lear, which came in no end of help when studying at nightschool, for 90p (RRP: £17.50)) and gives us all a place to search for hidden treasure away from the faceless consumerism of today's retail parks is all the better.

I love trawling round charity shops on a Saturday afternoon seeking hidden treasures whether it be…read morebooks, clothes, board games or records. The Settlement Shop has to be my favourite in Sutton town centre. The stock is of a high quality, the shop is well laid out with plenty of space to move and the prices are great. If you're after glassware then pay a visit here as they have a massive selection and there's one sprightly shall we say mature lady volunteer who I swear her only job here is to polish the glasses and arrange them as every time I come in here she has a wine glass or tankard and a duster in her hands! She is very friendly and chatty and nice to have a natter to as you're perusing the shelves. However the book section is my favourite part of the shop. A lot of charity shops tend to dump their books on the shelves without any sort of categorisation. They know their alphabet here and they have sections e.g. Cookery, Biography etc. I love coming here for a browse to see what they've had in. Their classics section is usually where I head first. I don't think I've ever paid more than £1.50 for a paperback book in here. They've recently introduced a bargain section in boxes on the tables in the book department for the battered/ well loved books which you can usually pick up for 20p I recently bagged a copy of The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole for less than the price of some daily newspapers! One of the other parts I particularly like in this shop is the decent selection of costume jewellery they have displayed in the counter. I have purchased several brooches from here each were under £5, if I'd got them from a Vintage Shop I'd have been paying at least £6 or £7 each for them.