Things and Stuff, Stuff and Things

Obviously you have got the memo that we sell whatever things people donate in to us, what with Brook Green being a Charity shop, an all.

After Christmas, there is always a small lull before the New year clear outs, and now we are running low on some stock, so here we are, cap in hand, with a biiiiiiiig smile asking for Ladies Tops and Men's Shirts.
These are our best sellers and so need to keep our rails topped up with fresh stock everyday, but recently the rails have been slightly more empty than we like!
Shirts, blouses, vest tops, t-shirts, jumpers, we will take them from you and make good use of them!
High Fashion. High Street. Doesn't matter.

If you have things buried in the back of your wardrobe which you no longer wear (or have never worn...we all do it...oops) or no longer like or no longer have room for, please, please, please think of us on Shepherds Bush Road, London and bring in your goodies during opening hours.
If you can, sign up to Gift Aid, and we will be eternally grateful.

Thanking you muchly
"We are the goon squad and we're coming to town...BEEP BEEP"

Bye for now
BG

Stock and Secrets

We have had a few emails regarding the nature of our shop and asking we only have designer stuff in! Well, we are just a lovely little shop with AMAZING patrons who donate brilliant items.

We don't just sell designer items of course. The majority of our sales and donations are of your regular items from the high street. For under £5 you can collect a variety of things, skirts, tops, trousers, dresses....
Topshop, Topman, Marks and Spencer, Cos, White Company, Hobbs, Jigsaw, Jaeger, Levis, TM Lewin, Thomas Pink, Zara, the list goes on.

These are then supplemented with our designer rail (and designer sale basket - up to 75% off! Bargainous!) and our shelf of designer shoes and bags.

Obviously this blog wouldn't be as interesting if I just posted photos of an M&S t-shirt for £3 or a Zara skirt for £5. We just want to show off all the goodies, but we do rely on these regular donations to keep coming in to keep our shop floor full of fresh stock

We put new things out EVERY DAY - although Monday and Tuesday is when the bulk of it goes out.

So whenever you are passing pop in as you never know what you might find!

Finally I have a little secret to tell you, as it is a new year and well, we like you, so will tell....Shush now....Lean in a bit, don't let *them* hear....OK, here goes
We at Brook Green HALF PRICE things once they have been out for 2 weeks on the shop floor.Then after another week they get sent to another shop to try selling it there.
There. I said it. That is our secret.

Although pretty much everyday some customer comments "Oh I saw a garment which I wanted but was waiting for it to be half priced and now it is gone."
That is the risk you have to take I'm afraid. And no, we won't discount it before hand. Sorry, but it doesn't work like that.

So now you know our secret. Time for a tea break.

Bye for now
BG

Brook Green Needs Your STUFF!

Due to a few good weeks of sales, we are getting really short of stock!
As you know, we aim to (and do) put out new things everyday. However this means that a few days of no or low amounts of donations means we we run low on stock.
WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF THINGS!

So I might have made things sound a little worse than they are, but Brook Green needs some good quality, fabulous donations, so here we are, begging you to have a pre-Christmas sort out and bring in your unwanted items for us to sell.

We are desperately short of ladies shoes -
Any style any size, as long as they are reasonable for sale and a matching pair, we would want them.

Our pile of handbags are also running a little low -
Again, any size will be gladly accepted, as long as they are still in a condition to be used.

Finally we are always grateful for Men's clothes and shoes. They don't come in as often and so our rails never seem totally full of men's items.

High street or designer we shall take it all!

We will ask you to Gift Aid them of course, but that will only take seconds of your time and help us raise more funds (at no cost to you!) and your items well get a cool barcode and make all the other non gift aid items jealous...


Of course we will take in anything saleable that comes in - clothes, books, CD's DVD's, bric-a-brac - but those listed are our main wants right now.

If you can donate, please bring your items to the shop, Location of which is here during opening hours 10am - 6pm. It sounds rather obvious but sadly things which are left outside when we are shut are stolen (a very sad thing, we know) or damaged and therefore unsellable.

Thanking you all in advance.



Bye for now
BG

Showing off

Just a post to show off how the shop looks! Admire Brook Green!
(and to show off the new display cabinet....if only I could work out how to put the doors on. Should be so easy but....) 

New items go out everyday so it is always changing, but we always try to keep it tidy!

Making sure old stock gets sold or sent to other shops after 2 weeks on sale, so we can fill up with lovely new stock is a constant job, but without doing it we wouldn't get the lovely regular customers we have. Who wants to come into a shop and see the same things every time?! With donations coming in everyday (Thank you so much!) we don't have the space to hoard it away, so out it goes for sale.

COME IN AND BUY IT ALL!!! please.

(Disclaimer - These photos have been taken either aaaaaaaaaages ago or within a few days of each other, so you might see a few 'repeat' items)

   

Check out the new cabinet! Horrah! It fits somewhere! Totally worth the hours and hours of moving.
See All Change blog....

Bye for now

BG

Window Shopping....

The windows are possibly one of the most important areas of the Brook Green Shop. It is our advertisement for our stock and the best way to 'show off' and tempt in customers.

It's not easy to change the windows as often as we like, seeing as we never know what stock is coming in each day, we try to do something new at least every 3 days.

So here are some past window displays for you to take a gander at
Sorry for such rubbish photos, but our windows are so clean and shiny there is always glare/reflection....



The 3 P's - Pink, Purple and Peach

Unlike some Charity shops we sell from the window, so if you see anything you like, pop in and buy.

Orange and Gold

 

Plus it gives us a challenge to change the window and still have a theme/ keep it matching!

Every Monday is Window day, and we have some regular customers which make a point of coming in to see what we come up with.
The window is changed by the lovely volunteer Kat, who has a great eye for colour, with a little bit of input from the shop manager.

We do have a male dummy on our side window before anyone says we are sexist, so we will make a point of doing a MAN blog post soon. Promise.

Christmas 2011

Bye for now
BG



Get ready for the British Summer....

....and buy some Knitwear!



Per Una Jumper £3

We all know how rubbish the British weather is. It is the one thing we can all talk about. It is probably one of the main topics of conversation with our customers, so we at Brook Green like to be ready for all possible weathers.
Where else other then the humble charity shop can you buy skis and weatherproof jackets at the same time as bikinis and vest tops? (except maybe the internet, but that doesn't count...)

Of course we change the shop around for each season, but knowing the summer weather and what customers want/need to buy we still sneak out some winter warmth. Going on a skiing holiday in June?, or has a monsoon just cracked open the storm clouds?, pop in to see us, as unlike those designer or high street shops we are not forced to be seasonally stocked. Anything goes!
(Although in saying that we are not totally silly and so store winter items away for winter in the summer and summery summer items away in the winter. We are just like boy scouts. Prepared. Just in case the weather turns)

Why not try this bright wide necked jumper?



Asos wool Jumper £5

Or this funky Tsumori Chisato jumper for a bargain £20 (which if it was my size I would totally buy!)

We also have various hats, gloves and scarves instore, so please pop in and get ready for summer!

Bye for now
BG

And so it begins....

Halfway between Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush, exists Brook Green's best kept secret. Trinity Hospice's shop at 84 Shepherds Bush Road, W6 7PD, is full of anything and everything people can donate!

This first blog is to introduce you to our shop and Trinity Hospice, but we hope to introduce you to staff and volunteers, show stock and the interesting, unusual and exciting donations.

The Brook Green store has a loyal and generous local community providing high quality regular donations of pre-owned stock - clean, high quality merchandise.

This means new stock all the time and designer labels at accessible prices.

For shopping that wont break the bank and knowing you are helping to support Trinity Hospice, we have the most amazing new and nearly new designer and vintage bargains. Search out our donated designer labels from brands like Paul Smith, Kenzo, Prada, Miu Miu, Diane Von Furstenburg, Chloe, Hugo Boss, and Armani and many others!

We carry woman's wear and menswear, accessories, home ware, art,  books - including 1st editions and collectables, music and children's clothes and toys.  New stock goes out everyday so you never know what you might find....



We rely on donations and so there may be some blog pleas on occasion, but we do ask nicely!  When stock is donated we would love everyone to sign up to Gift Aid. It only works if you are a UK Taxpayer, but it really helps us as it increases the value of your donation at no cost to you.  Gift Aid now adds 25% to the value of the goods you donate to Trinity.
The important information here explains all. It might not sound a lot (25p extra for £1) but it all adds up!


 
This blog is here to raise the profile of the Trinity Hospice charity so please feel free to use the comments section to express an interest in your favourite items and support
Trinity Hospice (or find them on twitter or facebook)

Trinity provides skilled, compassionate end of life care to individuals and support for families in our central and south west London community.  All our patient and family services are free of charge.  Our services include nursing and medical care, counselling and practical support, welfare advice, occupational and physiotherapy, complementary therapies, creative activities and bereavement care.  It costs £9.6 million each year to maintain Trinity’s services but less than a third of our funding comes from the NHS. We depend on the support of our local community in the form of donations, fundraising and legacies to continue our work. 

Trinity Hospice History



And so the Brook Green Shop Blog begins....