St Gemma’s Hospice

What I love most about charity shops is normally the book collection. I have a philosophy about books that they should be passed on to other people to enjoy rather than kept to yourself. I find St Gemma’s a really great place to browse for a good read, there is quite a variety on offer and they sometimes have a two for one offer on, meaning you get amazing value. I picked up to Ian Rankin books for only a few pounds not that long ago and they weren’t in a bad condition. I have gotten books from charity shops to get them home and find they have pages missing! There is also a nice collection of paintings and frames so if you think your walls need livening up I would get down there and see if anything takes your fancy. I managed to get a screen print of a flower for under £5 where in the big department stores it would cost you £30.

The St Gemma’s charity shops of Leeds are always a pleasure to browse, whether it’s that they specifically choose excellent managers or it’s pure luck, I haven’t yet visited one that I didn’t enjoy having a mooch around! This one was also a really nice shop to have a look around. They had a wide range of garments, arranged really nicely about the shop, with some really nice volunteers to help out. They had a beautiful vintage style rose embellished velvet dress, which was gorgeous, but at £20 it was a little more than I could spend a the time. (Which makes me sound like a total scrounger, I know!) My only slight irk with the shop was that anything that possibly came under the category of vintage was a little extra in price, but then again it does make good business sense, since vintage is the big thing right now!
At any rate, a grand little shop with some friendly and helpful volunteers!