A charity has stated that it and other charity shops have been “thriving” after a recent study ranked Nottingham as one of the five most thrifty cities across the UK. The study revealed that there are currently 172 shops that are charity-owned in Nottingham the biggest city among the top 10 and 41 auto boot sale events.
The study, carried out by the selling website for-sale.co.uk and For-Sale.co.uk, analyzed 70 UK cities in relation to the number of charities and car boot sales that are regular in and around each. The numbers were then compared to the city’s population to determine an “thrift score” out of 20 based on the amount of businesses and their sales in 100k people living there – Nottingham was rated 11.754.
Notttinghamshire Live interviewed The British Heart Foundation, as and regular patrons of charity shops to learn more about the need for charity shops, and the amount of resourceful individuals in Nottingham actually are when it comes to money. Sales assistant at Nottingham’s British Heart Foundation Furniture & Electrical store located in Nottingham city centre Rosemary Oliver, 58, told us: “The store is doing quite well. Have you heard there are stores in the city which are closing?
“But we still have lots around here, we’ve got the Cancer Research charity, the Oxfam book store and Barnardo’s across the road which is great. We’re doing well; our store footfall can get quite busy – we’re certainly thriving pretty well.”
“It’s often not so hectic as it was at it’s beginning when the world was opening up after the pandemic , it was not straightforward, but that’s exactly what is happening. Recently, we’ve been busy and have a lot of students wanting to make improvements to their homes that they might have just moved into We offer a lot of discounts for students.
“It’s great to see how popular these charity shops can be and being able to help people out.”
The retired, 71-year old Mary Smith, from Rainworth She told me: “Yes I think charity shops are wonderful. They are needed by people today them more than ever before because of the events of these past few years and is coming out in the aftermath of the pandemic.
“It’s an awful situation in Nottingham at the moment, people are in serious need of charity shops as prices everywhere else are going up. I love them – I actually prefer shopping there more than most other places!”
With Nottingham finishing 5th and Nottingham coming in fifth, It was Cornish city Truro which was revealed to be the most thrifty. It has twelve charity shops and the five car boot sale events that occur regularly in comparison to the 21,500 residents who live in the city. The second city with the highest thriftiness of the UK is Lincoln which has an estimated 97,500 inhabitants and 20 shops for charity.
Additionally, there’s 58 weekly car boot sales that take place in and around Lincoln which is the highest of any city in the population of the UK. Chichester and Wakefield comprised the remainder of the top 10 with Wakefield being the second largest city to be included in the top 10 after Nottingham.
Harry Holroid, 27, stated: “The big thing is that they’re inexpensive. This isn’t just a matter of price they’re cheap, but generally the clothes they sell are the same quality as the ones you find in other stores, and, obviously, a lot less expensive most often.
“It’s embarrassing, but I used to have a lot of variety in my shopping but it’s mostly thrift stores for me today! You can find lots of things there and they’re just the best.
“I think maybe they’re getting more popular now because of the pandemic that we’ve all just come out of, you know, everybody’s had a difficult time these last couple of years.”
The research was carried out by for-sale.co.uk which is a search engine for second-hand goods that operates across Europe.
A spokesperson from for-sale.co.uk said of the study: “Charity shops and car boot sales aren’t just great bargains for shoppers they also permit old items to be resold as well, which is something many people are considering when they shop. With a rise of 120% in the number of searches for charity shops in the past five years, it’s obvious that many consumers are considering where they can purchase their goods.
“This data allows us to see where in the UK it may be easiest to make more sustainable purchases, as well as where shoppers may be able to find discounts and make savings.”
