Salvation Army

One of the largest charity shops in the East end and always jam packed with goodies. Strong selection of menswear which is a nice change and loads and loads of ladieswear. Pricing can be mixed but stock quality is usually always good. Lots of handbags available and very small brik a brak section (complete with plenty of cds)

Like many other large charity stores, this one doesn’t follow the trend for clean, organised spaces: I actually find it to be a little bit of a pot-​luck browse, with the books in particular being idiosyncratic and rather random. It isn’t a great place for clothes– they avoid the quality control that has seen the Cancer Research become a sort of vintage specials in Shawlands– so patience is required, as well as a good idea for the diamond in the rough.

My very favourite thing about this shop is their eclectic selection of nineties hits that they have booming out of their ghetto-​blaster, with the chirpy staff singing along. Most recently, I was amused by hearing the No Mercy classic, «Where Do You Go? (my lovely)», whilst the hoodie wearing teen behind the counter sang along quite cheerfully.
Hilarious soundtrack aside, this is a great big charity shop filled with loads of bags, books, shoes and scarves, as well as many many rails of clothing ordered by style and size, which is a nice little time saver.
I find this to be the best shop of its kind in the area if you’re looking for some books, as they have a great selection at very low prices, which is always a bonus. There are shelves filled with trinkets and pointless decorations that you would expect to find on your granny’s fireplace, however there is the occasional little gem like pretty wine glasses.
Definitely worth a visit for the impressive selection of nineties classics alone.

The Salvation Army Shop is probably the biggest charity shop on Duke Street. There are loads of clothes, and they are arranged by size, which saves unnecessary rummaging. They have a pretty huge selection of books and their crockery and homeware section is nice too — not as grannyish as some charity shops can be.
The only problem is that because it’s such a big shop, it loses some of the community feel of a charity shop, it feels really businessy and I kind of prefer my charity shops haphazard. The window displays are good though, you always see a nice top or something you like in the window.