Tenovus

This dinky charity shop doesn’t stand much of a chance next to the Goliath that is the double-​sized St Peter’s Hospice. It’s a great shop and much better-​presented and stocked than many in Bristol, but it can’t avoid looking a bit shabby compared to its next door neighbour.
Nevertheless, it probably does win some custom from those who have made the special trip to St Peter’s Hospice and decide it’s worth a look while they’re here. And you might well trawl all through St Peter’s, only to find what you actually want right here in Tenovus. As with all charity shops, it’s always worth a look, and when they stack them up on one street for you, it would be silly to waste the opportunity.

Sat next to the St Peter’s Hospice Shop as you come out of the Sir James Barton underpass, this is definitely the better of the two competing charity shops. It always has a really good selection of clothes, particularly women’s clothes, and they are usually reasonably priced — think jeans for a fiver and shoes the same. The staff always seem to know how to select the nice stuff for the windows too, so that if perhaps you weren’t planning on going in there, you will walk past and take a look. They are quite hot on seasonal stock so at the moment have rails of summer dresses, floral skirts and strappy sandals but in the winter they have a good range of winter coats, warm jumpers, hats, gloves and scarves. I know this place is quite keen for more donations too as it can be difficult for people to lug bags of stuff all the way into town, choosing instead to give to one of the out of town shops.

I usually find that charity shops in the centre of cities and towns (with the notable exception of Bath) are some of the worst you’re likely to come across. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because they’re so exposed that all the good stuff gets snapped up as soon as it’s put on the shop floor, but I’ve never really come across anything notable in any of them — and this one’s no exception. I’m not saying it’ll never happen, though, so it’s definitely worth a look if you’re passing (especially as it’s for a good cause!). If you’re after bargains galore, however, then my advice is to go check out the branches on Gloucester Road or Whiteladies.

This Welsh-​founded cancer charity has several locations in Bristol, and many more over the South West. Tucked away around the back of busy Debenhams and Primark its more than likely you’ve been near and yet so far to paying it a visit. Sadly, there’s not many reasons why you’d go out of your way to visit it. It’s a tidy and well organised shop with friendly, helpful volunteers but because it doesn’t get the foot traffic the donations aren’t very exciting.
The charity itself is obviously extremely worthwhile so a visit to this shop is far from a wasted one, and the beauty of charity shops is you never know what gem you’ll stumble across — so if you’re looking for a bargain and have time on your hands, you now know where to find it.