THE ARCHIVE

People may not realise they even miss them, but there is an alarming lack of charity shops in Barcelona. What do folks do with all their unwanted things after a clearout? How can they be sure they’ll go to a good cause, and where does a shopper look for something that is more original than the latest designs to hit the racks in H&M, but that won’t bust the budget?

Charity shops started in the UK in 1948, when Oxfam opened a small shop in Oxford to help Greek civilian victims of the Second World War. Today, there are over 7,000 charity shops in Britain that raise £110 million for local, national and international charitable organisations, and they are largely staffed by volunteers.

Unlike thrift shops in the US that exist to provide cheap clothes and goods for the local, often poor community, the raison d’être for charity shops is to make as much money as possible for their causes. Charity shops do exist in other countries; New Zealand, Ireland and Australia, for example, all have networks of shops, but not to the same extent as the UK. So what about Spain? Why are there so many charity shops on the rainy isle and so few here?

David Moir, from the Association of Charity Shops, said it all has to do with history: “The culture of charitable giving in the UK was really established by 19th-century philanthropists, and the creation of bodies such as the Salvation Army. In other societies such as Spain, such altruism and charitable activities were more generally provided via the Church and its communities.”

However, while the high street here is not dotted with as many charity shops as elsewhere, there are various places to find decent, cut-price and often unique fashion pieces.

VINTAGE STORES

For thrift shop addicts and Brits used to a charity shop on every corner, Barcelona has relatively slim pickings. However, for those who like standing out from the crowd and are searching for something different, there are other options. For instance, there’s plenty of vintage. To the cynics, vintage might appear to be a euphemism for expensive, but bear in mind that vintage shops are normally run by people who know what they’re doing. They effectively save customers the tedious task of scouring through rails of rubbish to find what they’re after.