Mary Stevens Hospice

The Mary Stevens Hospice is a charity that will be familiar to Black Country folk as it/​they/​she have charity shops all around the area in places such as Cradley Heath and Dudley.
To a land-​locked Brummie such as myself, this is a new name in a world filled with Oxfam, PDSA and Settlement Shop signs. Their outlet in Blackheath sums up their approach to charity shops quite nicely — it’s big, clean and deals in a lot of furniture.
I’ll be honest, when I walk into a charity shop I’m only looking for two things: Vinyl and books (in that order). Sadly Mary Stevens has no vinyl to offer in Blackheath but it/​they/​she does have a lot of books. These books are mega-​organised by both alphabet and subject, although I seemed to notice that the books were almost all reads to be enjoyed more by women. There was a really good section of music and film books and biographies though.