Oxfam

Unlike Tesco, Oxfam is a chain store whose situation on Bold Street doesn’t somehow feel intrinsically wrong, as if a ghostly hand somewhere has surreptitiously turned up the dial that controls evil.
Nope this is a charity shop and therefore can stay. Filled with weird-​looking shoes and clothes that people died in, half of it doesn’t look all that different to any other charity shop, albeit a frickin’ massive one.
However, the bookshelves are where this shop shines (or would shine if the second-​hand tomes weren’t coated in finger grease and years of nicotine). You might find a treasurable gem here but even more likely is the unearthing of wonderfully naff/​unreadable/​monotonous subjects such as car ownership, parakeet ownership or jokes about golf.

This Oxfam is about 90% books. All good for book lovers, right? Well, not entirely.
They do have quite a variety, and it’s all neatly arranged into categories so that you can easily find the subject you want – but I am ever disappointed when I go in here to find that the sections I personally frequent never seem to get new stock (arts and crafts, poetry, biography, children’s fiction.)
Also, let me say something about the prices. Yes, this shop is more expensive than a lot of other charity shops. And I am okay with that in one sense because, yes the money is going to people who need it. However, the people who generally shop in charity shops now are people who ALSO need money. We shop second hand for books, clothes, etc. because we cannot afford the high street prices. (And maybe for some like me, because our parents taught us to be frugal …_​) I buy things here, but I also turn them down when I can’t justify a price. There was a lovely children’s hardback I wanted and it was about £5 and I just could not justify paying that when I knew that £5 could buy us enough food for a couple of meals.
If you have the money to spend it’s fine. But if you don’t, you don’t, and you might be disappointed to find that the books here are more expensive than in other charity shops, and well more expensive than on Amazon or
.
As far as other stock? No, this shop is NOT huge. It’s only possibly a third larger than the average charity shop. And the variety of clothing is confined to vintage (most of it horribly ugly even if it is in good shape), a few shoes and jewellery items, etc.

This branch of Oxfam is situated in the heart of Liverpool City Centre. The first thing that strikes you is the sheer size of this branch, it is massive!
My favourite part of this branch is the second hand books. They have a very large amount of books of all different types. They have university text books which are so cheap. I found this shop to be extremely helpful in my student days for this reason.
They have a large range of old cameras and as a photographer myself I am always drawn to this area of the shop to marvel at these wonderful old machines.
When it comes to clothing, as with most charity shops you have to be in the right place at the right time to pick up that perfect article. I have never managed to buy something like that from a charity shop but I know many people who have.
This shop is clean, tidy and well organised and the staff are very friendly. Next time you are in the Bold Street area pop in and have a browse. You never know what you might find here!

I’ve always thought of this branch of Oxfam as being one of the stars of Bold Street — and a place which has a damn sight better selection of books than the Waterstones located a little further along the road (although this could be because I know that all of the pennies I spend on paperbacks here are going to a good cause). It’s all too easy to come here on a rainy day and waste hours just flicking through its racks of books, browsing old vinyl records and trying on numerous vintage dresses and high heeled shoes (saying that, whenever I do this, I do feel a bit like a little girl playing dress up with her Mum’s wardrobe).
Being situated so close to the university quarter of Liverpool, there’s always a fantastic selection of secondary study material on offer here — many students are kind enough to donate their study guides and essay books here once they’ve finished with them. This can be particularly good if you’re studying for a humanities degree, college course or even if you happen to just have an interest in literature and the arts. They’re all very well priced too — I saw a modern Politics textbook in the window here priced at £3, which is a fraction of the price it would have been somewhere like Amazon or one of the larger book retailers.
They also have tended to have some great pulp 70’s and 80’s sci-​fi, alternative comics, interesting relics from Liverpool’s punk past and all sorts of other quirky oddities. And whilst I have heard a few people moan about the prices of clothing here, I feel they’re often more than reasonable — and you’ll always know that the staff will go the extra mile to ensure that the clothes are all clean and pressed before they sell them to the general public.
Add some lovely volunteers to the mix, most of whom have excellent music taste (you’ll usually find them playing some Indie Pop or 1960s psychedelia on the stero when you walk in), and you have a truly lovely and special store which is so much more than your average every day charity shop.

It does reflect what Oxfam has become when I searched for its listing on the Unilocal database not to be able to find it among charity shops, when really that’s its primary function.
I do feel bad slating the superficial qualities of shops when they have a good cause behind them but Oxfam feels like it has completely left behind its ethos of being a charity shop, totally believing it’s own hype and getting carried away with the whole charity & retro clothing chic thing.
Vinyl records are completely, and wrongly, over priced in my opinion, they are not valuable records that are found here simply popular ones which Oxfam decides to charge a hell of a lot more for. A lot of people decide to shop at charity shops to re-​use items or shop on a budget because they too are not as well off, Oxfam seems to view this as a way to get more out of us.

This Oxfam on Bold Street, I have found is a particularly good little gold mine for university studied books. If you want to spend £1.50 on the books you’ll never read for your course rather than £8.99, I suggest you have a gander here first! Oddly, they always have next terms books in there at just the right time, and quite a lot of those York Notes and such.
I also love the video and vinyl collection, some of which are down right hilarious. Fitness video by some 90s TV star? Engelbert Humperdinck’s greatest hits? They’re all here. Plus, some cool vintage buys. If you ask they also seem to have loads of suits in the back, as my mate found out the other day… ooh, and they have converse (used of course, but I’m not complaining!) and a picked out selection of good Summer Reads.

There’s not a lot more I can Unilocal on this Oxfam that hasn’t already been covered by my compadres here — decent selection of books, clothes and music at reasonable prices with all the money going to a very, very worthy cause.
What I would like to highlight is the fantastic selection of secondary study material on offer here — being located so close to the cities’ two centre based universities means that Oxfam obviously gets a host of study guides and essay books dumped on them. This can be particularly good if you’re studying for a humanities degree, college course or even if you happen to just have an interest in literature and the arts. They’re all very well priced, with a book of essays on Keats setting me back less than £2 — a third of the price that the same book would have set me back on Amazon even.
They also have tended to have some great pulp 70’s and 80’s sci-​fi, alternative comics (I have picked up in the past copies of Daniel Clowes’ «Ghost World» and Charles Burns’ «Black Hole») and a Japanese cassette containing the soundtrack from Studio Ghibli’s «My Neighbour Totoro.» Fantastic.

Oxfam is one of my favourite charity shops. It is also the most well known with all proceeds going to serious and useful causes. The branch in Bold Street is one of the largest selling a variety of random goods; these are all in good condition and no one should be put off by the fact that every item is second hand.
The attractiveness I like about second hand shops is just being able to browse freely amongst previously owned items, once in a while coming across an object that catches my eye. At the end of the day, it’s all by accident if I buy a product here. Not many people shop at Oxfam with a target. It all begins with a small browse! Moreover, you will be guaranteed a bargain for your efforts.

I used to work here a few years ago when I believed that doing voluntary work would assure my place in heaven. I was quite smug about it too. I don’t think god would’ve liked me being smug…
Anyway, this is best known for the book collection — and let me tell you, it was a nightmare to organise everything. You see, people come in with bags of crap they don’t want anymore, and expect you to hug them and congratulate them on being so wonderful. In reality, you inwardly groan and think «great, more stuff to catalogue and sort out». But it’s all for a good cause, right?
We used to get a lot of complaints after the shop had a bit of a revamp because the prices seemed to mystically go up, but then the quality of stuff on the shelves was better. I used to enjoy telling people that yes, there may have been a bit of inflation, but why is it such a big issue, because all the money is going to charity? If they’d rather hand their money over to Waterstones, it was just down the road. I’d be sure to tell the starving Africans how generous everyone was. That usually did the trick, although the occasional old lady would tut at me in disgust.
Anyway, the shop has a great range of media, clothes, accessories and general items of interest. You could easily spend an hour in here browsing the shelves.

This Oxfam is one of the best secondhand bookshops in the city. Occupying a large corner shop on Bold Street, it has about a dozen bookcases stuffed with everything from fiction, film, music and biographies to local history and geography books. Admittedly, prices aren’t as cheap as they used to be — you’re talking about £2.99 for a recent novel or anthology — but given that new paperbacks are usually £7.99 — £9.99 now this doesn’t seem unreasonable.
When I popped in recently, I managed to find almost new copies of Zoe Heller’s Believers, Marilynne Robinson’s Home and Chris Cleave’s The Other Hand. Budding photographers and film directors should also note that they stock a great selection of vintage cameras, super-​8 cameras and select albums and 12“s on vinyl. The staff are friendly too and they usually have great psychedelic pop or 60s rock on the stereo.

This branch of Oxfam is mainly a bookshop, with a lot of interesting books and a few great buys among the Mills and Boon paperbacks.
They still sell clothing but it’s heavily overpriced — some good vintage stuff though, and considering the money goes to the charity you can’t really go wrong.

msotly books, is aparently an oxfam orginal store but has no clothes hardly what so ever. and they are so over priced its unbelievable

Of late this branch of Oxfam has decided to turn into a book shop. It still sells clothing but these items are now way over priced (£40 for a second hand coat) for example!
I used to love this place, but now I never venture in there for reasons mentioned above. I think Oxfam have alienated alot of poorer people who relied upon charity shops, and have tried to become upmarket (if thats possible) with prices that compare to commercial retailers.

I just thought I would add that this Oxfam is mainly a bookshop (with quite a good selection of clothes and music as well). There is a good range of books, but I find them to be a little bit expensive at times.

Love this Oxfam. Cloth section are ace! They sell lots of vintage, retro and pretty dress with a good price.
I have bought a brown school-​girl like dress there and got many compliments from friends!
Some charity shops do not have good items that much, but this one always have very cool items. So please keep your eyes open!