UK Charity (Thrift) Shop CD Hunting

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by MC Rag, Jan 17, 2016.

  1. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    Not much vinyl was sold between 1993 and 2002 but, somehow, these albums thrived while almost every rock album disappeared from view. James Last Trumpet Agogo must have been in every deceased estate since 1990.
     
  2. gary191265

    gary191265 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    They're 'Replay' CDs, used and refurbed.

    I've bought loads of them, with no problems at all.

    Replay Music CDs
     
    Lost In The Flood likes this.
  3. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    Old people. Records and tapes, although James Last and Richard Clayderman sold plenty on CD as well. And those Elaine Paige targets see plenty of action in charity shops as well.

    Sounds ageist, but it's true that their fans were on the old side in the 80s and 90s.
     
  4. norliss

    norliss Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cardiff, Wales
    Great thread.

    As with - I'd imagine - pretty much anywhere, Cardiff has more charity shops than you can shake a stick at. Pretty much all of them sell CDs, a number of them (but not all) sell records and I've more or less abandoned looking for music in them because I've NEVER EVER found anything of interest to me in any of them: they're an utter waste of time. CDs tend to be the oft-mentioned stuff that probably sold by the tonne when new, but now no-one wants (doesn't say much for its longevity!) With vinyl it just seems to be like someone has emptied dear departed Aunty Doris' record cabinet and dumped it there.

    Sadly, I wasn't really of a mindset to go looking for second-hand music back in the 90s/early 2000s but I can well imagine it was great for vinyl. The combination of a/ people looking to offload records en-bloc and b/ a smaller number of charity shops (understandably) thinking records to be worth next to nothing doubtless led to some amazing bargains. Alas now, even fairly clueless people are aware of vinyl being popular again so there's a perception that pretty much any records are worth something even if they're not, really. Charity shops are only too aware of the potential resale value of the good stuff so the days of June & Hilda pricing up gems for 50p each are long gone.

    Doubtless, someone from (or nearby) Cardiff will be along to tell me how they regularly manage to pick up mint UK 1st pressings of Beatles, Stones & Led Zeppelin albums for 50p :biglaugh:

    On a side note, when I first saw this thread, I was going to comment on the politics/ economics of charity shops but having read through the whole thread, I can say that most of what I would have said has already been covered. Suffice to say that 25 years ago, there weren't all that many charity shops but a decent number of independent (new & used) book and record shops. Nowadays, there's scores of the former and precious few of the latter, so make of that what you will....
     
  5. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    While charity shops can be a depressing sight, there is an occasional gem among the garbage. Just the other day, I was in the Sense charity in Coalville, Leics. Alongside the usual charity shop fare was this mint Van Halen debut CD. Early SRC issue with no barcode.

    I use to think Dido's Life for Rent was the most common charity shop CD, but it's probably Gloria Estefan's Cut Both Ways.
     
  6. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    Good side - An original UK Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory.

    Not so good side - a bit crackly and was £5. I'm happy with it though. The good thing with records being £5 is it's still cheap and it puts a lot of the people who are only looking to profit off.
     
  7. Dave Gilmour's Cat

    Dave Gilmour's Cat Forum Resident

    For £1.50 I bought Paul McCartney's Wingspan: Hits and History (2CD). Seemed like a bargain for 40 tracks.
     
  8. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    I don't think it's quite 40 tracks, but I picked up Tortoise's A Lazarus Taxon 3CD/DVD set for 99p from a local PDSA shop. It's a collection of Japanese bonus tracks and OOP material.
     
  9. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    10 years ago, you could have had the entire collection for 50p/each...But nice to at least see some interesting stuff show up and not be priced by crazy people.
     
  10. Beeb Fader

    Beeb Fader Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire,UK
    To be honest that's absolute nonsense. None of these things have been 50p each, except The Faust Tapes when it came out !
     
    Lost In The Flood likes this.
  11. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA

    Definitely stuff like Empty Ear Band, Mallard, Kevin Ayers and Tangerine Dream would have been tossed into the generic bins at a charity store (or in the US, a thrift store). A record store would might not have done that, but a thrift store would. Zappa or Beefheart might have been tagged if the person doing the pricing had a clue.
     
  12. minibreakfast

    minibreakfast Forum Resident

    Location:
    Suffolk, UK
    Escape From New York soundtrack and Tori Amos' Little Earthquakes were both recent LP charity shop finds, at £1 and 50p respectively.
     
  13. Graham

    Graham Senior Member

    Location:
    Perth, Australia
    Wow, the EFNY soundtrack for a £1 is an amazing find. What release was it?
     
  14. minibreakfast

    minibreakfast Forum Resident

    Location:
    Suffolk, UK
    Dubmart likes this.
  15. Dave Gilmour's Cat

    Dave Gilmour's Cat Forum Resident

    The original Stop Making Sense CD for £1. I know there's an expanded version, but it still seemed like a bargain.
     
    Lost In The Flood likes this.
  16. Dave Gilmour's Cat

    Dave Gilmour's Cat Forum Resident

  17. Willowman

    Willowman Senior Member

    Location:
    London, UK
    Some killer tracks on that.
     
  18. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    I saw two copies of that Yes LP at a local BHF store. Neither of them was in great condition, so I left them. I forget what they were asking.
     
    CrazyCatz likes this.
  19. Dave Gilmour's Cat

    Dave Gilmour's Cat Forum Resident

  20. Very disappointed. Went into Oxfam shop today and they didn't have any copies of the Titanic soundtrack!
     
    Lost In The Flood and Lebowski like this.
  21. RobNeil

    RobNeil Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midlands, UK
    Very disappointed. Went into Oxfam shop today and they didn't have any copies of the Titanic soundtrack!

    ...but surely they had The Best of Atomic Kitten and loads of James Last and Shirley Bassey vinyl...?!
     
  22. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    It might seem ridiculous now that someone would go to the trouble of faking a Beatles CD, but it was big business in the 90s. All you can do is compare the matrix with other EMI of the era. Just remember the Uden plant sometimes used EMI Swindon masters rather than their own.

    The On-U Sound and Don Letts compilations were nice finds.
     
    Dave Gilmour's Cat likes this.
  23. Yes indeed - plus I have nearly finished S Club 7 collection.
     
    RobNeil and CrazyCatz like this.
  24. Anyone got any tips for good towns to shop for second hand CDs in the UK?
     
    CrazyCatz likes this.
  25. CrazyCatz

    CrazyCatz Great shot kid. Don't get cocky!

    Burton on Trent is OK, well plenty of Charity Shops..avoid BHF though, most of their CDs have been Torvil n Deaned and they still try charge more than other Charity Shops. I have noticed some Shops are even pricing according to what they see same CD going for on FleaBay, but again scratched to hell. Scope is very fair, CDs generally in Good to Mint condition...and £1 for 2 on CDs and DVDs. Saint Giles(small one) which does mainly Books also has a small collection of CDs always Mint and £1 each. All this is moot IF you have to Travel to far?

    atb
     
    Frederick Mars and JP Christian like this.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine