St Vincent Support Centre

St Vincent’s has to be one of the liveliest charity shops I’ve ever visited. A fairly new feature on Lewes road, it seems to be part of a gradual and partially unintentional regeneration of this part of town. The staff here are engaging and fun to talk to giving the place its’ lively and community based feel.
The stock seems to be pleasantly varied, verging on the haphazard, when I visited there were some fascinating ladies hats, a good selection of toys and solid section of vinyl LPs! As with any charity shop the stock is set to change but a great atmosphere is something that can stand to be a constant in a place like this, so I strongly recommend dropping in and supporting St Vincent’s.

Next to Spar on Lewes Road this is one of the bigger charity shops in Brighton and has a good collection of books, clothes and other odds and ends. St Vincent’s is a Christian voluntary organisation and they are very kind and helpful. They even offer impromptu fashion advice, which I think was warranted as I ponced around in front of the mirror in a ladies felt jacket which was clearly too small for me. Thank you St Vincent’s for what could have been a very unwise purchase. But there are far more things of worth in here than most tired shops and it’s a breath of fresh air to hunt around in a shop where the possible purchases are so cheap. Perceptive and conscious staff under a roof filled with passed on treasures.

St Vincent’s is a charity that focuses on affordable housing in the North West (a little strangely this charity shop branch is in the South East, but hey!). The shop itself isn’t bad, with one of the (if not the) biggest selections of clothes in all of Brighton’s charity shops. I went in there looking for something carnival-​ly for a night out recently, and unsuprisingly I was confronted with plenty of ugly 90s sequined tops and mini skirts. What was a surprise however, was the amount of other items I ended up being distracted by and trying on whilst I was there. I didn’t end up buying on the one visit in the end, but if you’re a regular bargain hunter, this place is well reccomended.

I totally agree with Jack M… this is a great secondhand shop! People might think that all charity hops are the same– full of people’s unwanted 70s crockery and old school jumpers. They are so wrong. There is a weird, unfathomable rule at work, that means some charity shops are just a hell of a lot better than others. I guess the best donators go the shops where they have the most joy as shoppers! Or something like that. I know that’s what I’ve always done.
St. Vincent’s is one of the top charity shop dogs! I only discovered the place the other day, as I mosied along the Lewes Rd. It is large, well-​stocked and fastidiously organized into logical categories. The displays are attractive, the ladies who run the place friendly and they simply have a superior class of second hand stuff! As I perused the rails, I found a couple of recent Topshop items as well as a great retro style jacket. I wished I had a boy with me, because they also had some great men’s checked shirts. Aside form clothing, they have a great selection of crockery, home ware and toys. Well worth a gander, if you’re looking for a cheap treat!

St Vincents Charity Shop on the Lewes Road is a really well run, and varied charity shop where your likely to find something interesting, and at a snip of the price of the shops in the Laines. I went in just yesterday to have a bit of a look around, to be honest not expecting much other than some seriously dated clothes, and maybe some royal family memorabilia plates, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Firstly I went straight to the clothes rack to see what gaudy little beauties they going, and was greeted by cool Boxfresh and Levi’s T-​shirts, and best of all a ‘Jump the Gun’ yellow, button down shirt, which first hand wouldn’t be much less than £50, but here was going for a mere £3. Needless to say I did in fact purchase it!
Whilst riding high on this bargain I then went across the store, past the selection of glasses, board games and other numerous potential golden tickets, to take a look at their selection of books. Wuthering Heights, Homer’s Oddysey, Mansfield Park and Say Cheese and Die from the Goosebumps series were just a number of the classics on offer. In the end though I ended up going for The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson, which was in perfect condition, and only cost £1.
AHHHHHHHHHH.Amazing!
Even in the 15 or so minutes I was there, people were bringing in items to donate, including what look like a little home gym workout box and mat thing??? I don’t exactly know what it was but it looked good.
Lovely old ladies at the counter who were having a good laugh and enjoying their tea in a nice relaxed atmosphere topped it all off, and I will always now make the effort to go here to look for stuff, instead of getting ripped off and ‘vintage’ clothes stores elsewhere.