For my fourth adventure I tackled the charity shops of my hometown
Northampton. There are 20 here so I will have to do this in 2 halves,
and as they are spread out over a wide area I hit the ones in the north
near me first. I was armed with an ambitious £20 but that was because
I never made it to the boot fairs over the weekend as I was looking after
my lad but he wanted to come with me today in the hope of finding some
"interesting old toys", a wee chip off the old block, ha!



I began on the Kettering Road, where there are six on the same stretch



A pityful selection of albums but some curious old Folk EP's, I wasn't
tempted to part with my 50p even for a song called 'Draper's Maggot'.



Of course I had to purchase daft sword & sorcery epic The Beastmaster for 25p.






Opposite was The Samaritans Shop where 100's of very overpriced old comics
have been lying unsold for weeks, they do have lots of vinyl 'n' vids though.


Quite a smörgåsbord of old formats.



Amongst the singles was a Fairground Attraction single whose title I was previously unaware of, indeed!




I was so nearly tempted by this 4 album box set of Henry IV part 2 on Argo
but seeing as box set part 1 was not on offer thought it best to skip it as I
doubt I would ever actually play the damn thing.





Praise be to my favourite charity shop in town as the turnover of stock
here is swift because they are cheap and the staff friendly and I pop in
twice a week at least, so don't even think of dropping by, it's my shop, all mine y' hear?!



Not a lot here today however, 'Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus' star Debbie Gibson's
old album and some Jap tat was nowt to get excited about.



Ahh the joys of knowing the staff, "have you anything out the back"
I enquire, and how nice to be offered the first Buddy Holly album and
an original flipback Billy Fury LP, my pocket is £1.25 lighter.



I know the chap who runs this hard to find shop in one of the terraced
streets, he's a cheery chap but you wouldn't think so at first to meet him.



"Have you anything fresh?" was met with a jovial "F&%£ Off" aww bless him!


Out back I stumble across a pile of unloved albums.


One of which rockets my spending up to a total of £1.75.



This tempting gift for Mrs. HG was sadly left on the shelf.




Heading back into town we found the Local Blind Shop closed at 3pm.



But the Extra Care shop looks like it's busy.


Kate Bush's 'Experiment IV' 12" shall await some other lucky punter.




Racing along the street I hit The Red Cross shop which has served me well in the past.


Alas, tempting as it is I leave the selection available, but I did like this sleeve.




I think this was a Mind Shop but I can't be sure, at least it's open!


With a large selection of boxes on offer too, but nothing for me...




A few doors up and a new shop which specialises in Vintage Clothing.



But little in the way of vintage vinyl, this old Andy Cole album was a
strange curio when he used to play for Man Utd but I already have it.



Finally I get to good old Age Concern, and... it's... shut.


Peering through the window I can see a box of albums and can only
guess at the treasures it holds, I shall just have to come back tomorrow.
Total spent,
me: £1.75 on 2 LPs and a video ~ mini-me: £2.50 on action figures and a rubber spider

What's a "Mind Shop"?


nice finds

just another name for a charity shop but this one
helps folk with mental issues

You know you have to post pictures of the toys too, right?

Until the next part of my Northampton hop, which will now
be split into 3 parts as I have just discovered there are in
fact 24 charity shops here and not just 20, I drove 8 miles north
to Kettering. Home to the famous Wicksteed Park, a kinda budget
Disneyland built in 1926 and still pulling in the crowds with it's
regular car boot sale every Sunday morning from 6am.
Once again I was armed with a fistful of fivers, 4 to be exact
and with optimism in my heart I hit the High Street.



It seemed to make sense to start with err, Sense.



Their box has the local angle covered with the single at the front,
but even I wasn't going to take a chance on singing nurses, sorry.




Their Northampton branch does have a better selection of vinyl and
there were some unusual clothes in here, but I'm only here for the records.


Alas, late period Chicago and the quite disturbing 'Animal Kwackers' were not going to tempt me.




This curiously named charity shop a few doors up was full of stuff!

[img][650:488]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm50/shanequentin3/Kettering3.jpg[/img]
All the good ones seem to have gone...



Onto the main drag and the first of 5 shops which are all quite near to each other.


This caught my immediate attention, however after lifting it out of the box
I find it's sleeve has been ripped in half, so that's why it's still there.


Amongst their CD selection is the debut single from Charlotte Church,
which is probably collectible in some alternate universe, but not mine.




Now thats what I call a proper Charity Shop sign!


No vinyl in sight but they do have some bloody cheap videos, mind you that's
actually double what they were in the charity shop I went to in Maryport.




Uh oh, I do kinda dread going into BHF shops, they "don't do vinyl"
and their cds are always horribly overpriced.


Most other shops would struggle to shift Steps/Dido/Spice Girls discs for
less than the price of a cuppa tea, a cuppa cold tea, without milk or sugar,
or tea and in a cracked cup, etc.



The local yooth hang loose outside my next stop.


The paranoia of underselling has forced them to hang a tatty old
Glenn Miller disc without it's sleeve in the window with a £5 tag, oh dear.


and ripped OMD sleeves in the racks too, shameful.


There is a helpful list of the more expensive items available behind the till,
oh Lord, I am outta here!



To the Oxfam next door

[img][650:444]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm50/shanequentin3/Kettering22.jpg[/img]
Where they seem to be stuck with too many Ugly Kid Joe & Stiltskin
cd singles, I never knew they actually made that many.



So I bid farewell to the streets of Kettering and look forward
to trawling my own back yard, only another 14 shops to go there.

It's like a blog but on a forum!

For when you do Northampton, at the bottom of Kettering Road where it meets the Welly Road, check out the smalll secondhand store on the corner. It's been awhile, but i have picked up a few "gems" from there before.

blimey, I drove past that shop t'other day and thought
I must pop in, and now I will find myself outside its door
at 9am tomorrow morning! thanx for the tip

Continuing my trip around Northampton I went into the heart of
the town center where the pensioners and Big Issue sellers lurk
in shadowy corners. I have also calculated that on top of the 10
shops I am about to visit, there are in fact another 10
I have yet to encounter in the backwaters of my home town.

This has forced me to revise my original estimate of charity shoppage
to a total of 30 in Northampton alone and it is only a town.
So part 3 will be next, meanwhile what's on offer today I hear you cry?
well, let's have a look...



Starting at the place where I know I am least likely to find anything
- probably just a fool's errand.



I am incredulous as to why they think keeping
shelves heaving with overpriced stock constitutes good business.
For example £3.99 for a second-hand M People CD and "only" £1.99 for VHS
videos (which are 25p in many of the other shops) simply makes no sense to
me, so I leave grumbling under my breath, I have tried talking to them about
this before but it always falls on deaf ears...




Age Concern round the corner have plenty of vinyl and a window cleaner.



The album box has the entire ZZ Top back catalogue and a This Mortal Coil
album all quite reasonable for £2 but I resist and move on.




Next door I notice they have added a 'We' to their shop front, which is nice.


No vinyl, only a tower of those pesky compacted discs and nothing for me.



Heading into good old Oxfam I find their stock of Arctic Monkeys 7"s
are all sold out, however they do have other discs on offer.


The kidz were obviously not tempted by the Gigi s/t despite once being
featured on an old Pink Floyd album cover, maybe they just didn't know, or care.


The overwhelming air of sadness in this shop forced me to wander on.



Previous visits here have yielded little in the way of booty.


However that was about to be blown clean out of the water when I
discovered that some kind soul had donated a treasure trove of fine
CDs including excellent Funk, Latin and Jazz discs along with Broadcast,
Laurent Garnier and old Red Snapper albums for a pound a pop, result!



The nearby Debra shop is a popular haunt for the blue rinse brigade.


But they can't compete for the quality of stock in their rival's shop.



I doubted I would fare any better in the Red Cross shop opposite.


They did have a few tatty albums on the floor though,


along with this curious CD single by the charming Dismember but the
£1.99 tag seemed a risk too far even if it was called 'Casket Garden'!



This charity have 2 shops 20 yards from each other in the middle of town.



Which probably explains why they have so many albums by
popular artists such as dead-eyed Phil Collins and Cheapish Trick,
the Tartan Bitter 7" flexi caught my eye - I already have it though.



Aside from the High Street stores there are 2 indoor shopping malls
which offer plenty of available units, one of which has been given to charity.


They must have saved a few quid by having their sign photocopied
and then taped onto the window, which is kinda cute.


The stock was nicely displayed but nothing to offer this shopper.


I left the mall with its closed and empty stores and took off
into the suburbs of Town in search of greater treasures.
I had spent £7 on some excellent CDs courtesy of The Salvation Army shop,
God bless 'em all!

Man this is a great thread.

I just wish there were more treasures discovered.

I am amazed at the amount of charity shops in the UK.

I hope you bought the "Hits of Leo Slayer" just cuz I feel like dancing.

Phil Collins is staring into our soul.

Ohio doesn't have their fair share? Around my area, it's all about the veterans' charity shops. Goodwill be damned -- they never have anything good.

The only thing of value that I have ever found at a thrift store is a Danny Graves bobblehead for $4.

i got some sweet levi's at the thrift stores in virginia.

I think I would have bought that Henry IV Pt II just for the cover

For the 3rd and final instalment of my hop around Northampton
I visited the final 9 shops - there was one in the General Hospital
I never went to today which would have made a grand total of
30 charity shops here alone, but I'll go another day perhaps.
I had about £14 in assorted coins and notes but never thought I'd
even get to spend any of it as these are not the best charity shops
the town has to offer, still, off I went in great anticipation.



My first stop was the first of 2 Mind Shops.


They seemed to be stuck with too many Linda Ronstadt albums.



Oxfam on the other hand have other problems...



A totally bizarre pricing structure, Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk' LP = £5.99
The Stranglers 'Golden Brown' 7" = £4.99 and Henry Cooper's 'Knockout Party'
yours for 69p has the world gone completely mad?!



They have very friendly staff in here




They offer Barenaked Ladies for 99p which I suppose is quite reasonable really.




The quaint Extra Care Shop nearby has equally cheeky goods.


The 'Piano Magic' of Wayne King, ohh titter ye not madam!





I was in 2 Minds today, geddit?! oh never mind.


Their album selection was kinda dubious too, the TOTP album had
some very strange stains on the front cover, I didn't want to touch it!





As well as 2 Mind Shops I was in 2 Red Cross Shops too - spooky.



Where the manageress was more than pleased to show me her wares,
erm, no thanks love it's alright.




This shop was in a busy street and had five members of staff inside milling about.



Shame then that they hadn't spent more time stocking the shoe shelf,
and their vinyl offerings were pretty poor.



The Age Concern Shop attracts the elderly customer like a honeytrap.



Which is why they probably left this June Brides album
to remain in the record box forever and ever.




My final stop was this hard-to-find shop in the grounds of a mental hospital.


But they turned out to have the best stuff of all, probably because
hardly anyone else has been in there for weeks!


Pick of the bunch was this kids TV favourite by Roobarb & Custard
on the Bell Label from 1976 - a bargain for 20p



On my way home with my small bag of booty I passed this grafitti
by the side of the road, the horror - the horror!

I have that Move compilation, on vinyl!
The sound quality could be better, but it's still a helluva collection.

waiking, haha

Continuing upon my adventures I visited several charity shops in
Milton Keynes as well as nearby Woburn Sands and thankfully managed
to avoid Bletchley altogether, it's simply TOO depressing there.
I plan to do another swoop around Northampton before the end of 2009
as well as venturing out to Bedford, so all that is to come and in the meantime...



Starting at the newly opened Re-Use Centre on the same industrial
estate as the previously visited charity warehouse in Milton Keynes.


Several well thumbed boxes on offer which I sadly had to Re-fuse.




Across town to Westcroft to what was once a good hunting ground.


Despite a selection of old Motown albums I came away empty handed mainly due to their poor condition.






Age Concern in the market square in Wolverton is one of the longest established charities in MK.


The huge box of records yielded a few good pickings, amongst all the bloody U2 albums I found this.






I used to work for the Willen Hospice charity (helping to sort their stock)
so know that they do come up with all sorts of records from time to time.


I couldn't resist these 2 singles in the box I found under the wedding dresses.
I never knew Jackie Wilson recorded with The Chi-lites, so that was a nice suprise.








A few doors down was yet another Age Concern.


I was not too concerned about their old record stock.





Over the road to a shop where I once bought a copy of
Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat album for £1.


Those were the days, now there is only to be found the curse of all charity shops.





Unfortunately for me Oxfam take the 2nd hand music business very seriously nowadays.


So to see common albums by the likes of Queen at £4.99 and finding some chap deep in the stock
I swiftly snap away and move on.






Way across town and the closest charity shop to our studio is in Shenley Church End.


No vinyl but plenty of cheap cds, however I couldn't find anything to take my fancy, mainly because I had donated a lot of them.




So I headed just out of MK to the village with its own wildlife park, forest and sprawling country estate,
hmmm, I can tell there's a bit of money round here.



As well as yet another Age Concern shop.


Their tatty box promises much with The Glove album at the front
... upon closer inspection I discover why it's been left to fester,
it's scratched to hell and isn't all that good anyway.




My last chance to find a gem on this trip takes me into another Mind (shop).


Where joy of joys, I find a great Desmond Dekker double album just waiting there for me
ready to be exchanged for the handsome sum of 50 pence, not a bad result!

For this Hop I trawled the city of Exeter way down in cloudy South Devon,
I had not been here for years and this was just a one off visit for the day.
I did manage to squeeze in several shops in the morning and spent the
afternoon at the seaside before the long drive home back to Northampton.

Driving round and round the city centre in search of a parking space was my first
task but I eventually gave up and succumbed to the dreaded multi-story car park.








Thankfully round the corner was a whole row of charity shops, my initial thought was
how do people decide which one is deserving of their donation, I was about to find out.



The RSPCA was my first stop, I was quite taken by their dog-heavy window display.








There was little in the way of vinyl delights but I did find this curious CD which looked scarily awful.





Next door was equally poor but at least they had some records, it seems folks
found it so hard to choose which shop to donate to here that they just didn't bother
as most of their stock was pretty grim.









I took time out to have a hearty large breakfast here, friendly staff
clean tables & fresh food - no complaints and I got stuffed for £3.99







On the main road through the centre I found a few more shops
and got the strangest feeling I was being watched outside this one.






Cheap vinyl but nothing to tempt me, even a quite reasonably priced
K-Tel rack all wrapped up and ready to go at £1.99 didn't sway me,
perhaps am I getting too fussy?!










A few doors along however and I come across a slightly overpriced album selection.



This Bowie album was scratched to hell, had no inner sleeve or poster
was priced at an eye-watering £15 - someone must have told them
"that David Bowie record is worth quite a bit y'know" hmmm...









On my last stop for this Hop I discover a treasure trove of records out the back,
including a very un-PC single featuring Susan Hampshire as well as a few
nice original 60's and 70's albums.







I managed to find my car park afterwards and was delighted by it's neon lit stairwell,
I am obviously easily pleased today.





Driving to the coast I passed this roadsign warning me to look out for tanks!









No tanks in sight at nearby Ladram Bay on the Jurassic coastline and to be honest
not much in the way of sunshine either, but plenty of interesting looking rock pools
which as a Cancerian I find myself quite at home at, down amongst the molluscs.




So you can imagine my delight in finding a crab, I do remember finding ones as
big as my fist when I was a lad, but then I guess I used to have smaller fists!




All in all an enjoyable Hop down south and quite a few unexpected
bargains too on the vinyl front but I didn't get that much of a tan.

The couple on the Tutankhamen record look like a sociology professor at U. of Alabama-Huntsville & her sculptor husband who are into psilocybin mushrooms & orgies. They'd prolly meet LooGAR, out for drinks before a North Mississippi All-Stars show, & figure, if he's into obscure rock n' roll, he's prolly into alternative lifestyles. The question would remain, though: when LooGAR would answer their proposition in the negative, would no just mean no, or would it mean yes.

That is one large dog coin bank.

For 20 pence I totally would've pulled the trigger on that Bachelor Party soundtrack.

May even be out of print. Some expected 80's cheeseball relics but the Fleshtones, REM, and Oingo Boingo tracks make it semi-interesting. At least for 20 pence. Maybe I'm just being sentimental.