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TheGreatAmbini

Where to (charity) shop in Cardiff!

Posted on May 28, 2018 by TheGreatAmbini

*Updated February 2020*

Cardiff, the capital of Wales is a vibrant, growing city, but it was also my home for 3 years. During the time I lived in Cardiff, I spent many hours wandering around the charity shops and trying to find a bargain. Here is my guide to the best places to charity shop in Cardiff.

In the UK we use the phrase “Charity Shop”, rather than Thrift shop (or Op shop as they call it in NZ).

The rise of second-hand clothing

Since I first wrote this article, the war on fast fashion has started and now it is a lot more fashionable to wear second-hand clothing. I completely support this, it’s great to see so many people thinking more sustainably about the clothes that they wear.

The fast fashion industry is problematic, as 85% of textiles in the US are not recycled meaning they often won’t breakdown in our lifetime. Majority of textiles are made with plastic derived material and this is a pollutant to oceans/seas but also won’t break down easily.

There is also the issues of the human cost to the fast fashion industry, in 2013 at the Rana Plaza factory collapse – over 1100 people died and 2500 were injured while making textiles for the west. This was not just an isolated incident, numerous factory deaths have happened across the world in the pursuit of fast fashion. Stacey Dooley Investigates series have covered a couple of different horrifying areas of the fast fashion industry. Also, check out this article from the New York times about fast fashion.

So, it’s obvious that if you can try to shop for clothes more sustainably – but where can you shop for good bargains in Cardiff?

Albany Road

During my time living in Cathays, I must have visited Albany Road twice a month – I love this place for a good walk around the charity shops. Arguably, it is the best place to find a good charity shop in Cardiff.

Along Albany Road, there are about six or seven different charity shops – including YMCA, British Heart Foundation and Tenovus.

All of these charity shops are of a relatively similar size but have a wide array of different clothing – YMCA is great for finding fancy dress for university socials too. Every Wednesday you say many different students trawling through the shops to find costumes or parts of outfits! (One day I got a giraffe tail in tenovus for a costume for 50p)

YMCA

On Albany Road is the Holy Grail of charity shops. The YMCA £1 charity shop. I have loved this place since I first discovered Albany Road in my first year! At one point it had a refit and became a normal charity shop with varying prices, but it soon went back to £1. In fact today it was 99p!

I have found some interesting clothes in there, including a pair of Nike Leggings that I wore in Tanzania and for about a year afterwards – eventually, the elastic died and I had to recycle them.

The only downside of the shop is there is no changing room so you have to guess. They will return/exchange items though so it’s not all bad! To me, this is the best charity shop in Cardiff.

 

Cardiff City Centre

In the City centre, I have two favourite charity shops to visit. On the Hayes, there is a lovely Ty Hafan which often stocks sports clothes at really good prices and they also have great sales. (I think there was once a 50p sale rail – where I bought 3 different rugby shirts)

Ty Hafan also has another shop in the castle arcade which is called Emporium. This is a vintage/retro charity shop so the items are a bit pricier but great if you like a vintage style.

Scope has a charity shop in the city centre along with Oxfam’s books and clothing shops.

Cowbridge Road East

Another great street of charity shops in Cardiff is along the Cowbridge Road E – The area past St Davids Hospital has 8 other charity shops. Here you can find Marie Curie, BHF, PSDA, Cancer Research and Mind.

Cardiff’s Biggest Charity Shop

A new charity shop that has opened recently, is in City Link Retail Park on Newport Road. The new cancer research store has rail upon rail of second-hand clothes along with excess products from supermarkets.

The pricing at this charity shop is at £3, £2 or £1 which is great for the pocket!

I really miss living and shopping in Cardiff, I hope that this is a useful guide to other people looking for the best charity shops in Cardiff.

If you like this, please pin it for later.

 Until next time,

The Great Ambini

X x x

16 thoughts on “Where to (charity) shop in Cardiff!”

  1. D Boone says:
    May 28, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    Good advice Amber but some of us are larger sizes and there isn’t much to choose from!

    Guess who? (GMa)

    Reply
  2. holly goodyear says:
    May 30, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    I love charity shop shopping! There’s so many clothes out there already so why do we always feel the need to buy brand new ones? So cheap and goes to a good cause!

    Reply
    1. TheGreatAmbini says:
      May 31, 2018 at 2:12 pm

      Exactly, I always feel better about buying second hand clothes than buying new ones!

      Reply
  3. Josy A says:
    May 30, 2018 at 3:54 pm

    I wish I was better at charity store hunting! Whenever I go with my sister, she’ll find the most amazing bargains that look good. I just don’t seem to have the eye for it. I think you would Loooove it out here in vancouver. There are so many fun thrift stores. Some of them are not that cheap, but the clothes are amazing!

    p.s. I love the comment from your gran (I guess it is…my garndma signs off GMa too, so it made me smile! 🙂

    Reply
    1. TheGreatAmbini says:
      May 31, 2018 at 2:12 pm

      I know, Grandma’s are very sweet like that! Oh Vancouver sounds my sort of place, I could find some bargains there I’m sure!

      Reply
  4. Lauren says:
    May 30, 2018 at 4:01 pm

    I love thrift shopping!! You never know what you’ll find! I’ve found some unique pieces and brand name clothing for way less! Cant beat that!

    Reply
    1. TheGreatAmbini says:
      May 31, 2018 at 2:11 pm

      I know, such good value for some of these pieces and you don’t feel so bad about the environmental impact either!

      Reply
  5. Ashley says:
    May 30, 2018 at 4:30 pm

    Ugh man, thrift shopping is the best. It looks like you have a really great area to search through as well. Thanks for the great tips.

    Reply
  6. Melissa Downham says:
    May 30, 2018 at 4:37 pm

    I love thrift stores! It’s a great way to find unique pieces and not spend too much money!

    Reply
    1. TheGreatAmbini says:
      May 31, 2018 at 2:10 pm

      I know, I have some real one off pieces from them!

      Reply
  7. Andrea Mujica says:
    May 30, 2018 at 5:39 pm

    I’ve never heard of charity shopping! what a neat idea! Definitely going to have check if there some near me

    Reply
    1. TheGreatAmbini says:
      May 31, 2018 at 2:10 pm

      Yeah, in the UK our secondhand shops go to charity but in other countries they can be thrift or second hand shops!

      Reply
  8. Michelle says:
    May 31, 2018 at 12:53 am

    Thrift shopping has become so trendy, so what a great post idea. I wish I had better luck at thrift shopping. I don’t usually seem to find many things. Maybe I’m just visiting the wrong places?! LOL!

    Reply
  9. Nafisa Habib says:
    May 31, 2018 at 10:10 am

    I don’t know much about charity shopping. But I like not to spend much on shopping. So I can see now it’s really a cool idea to shop in a very low cost. Cool!

    Reply
  10. Victoria says:
    May 31, 2018 at 11:17 am

    I’ve been to thrift shops in the US when I was younger but was squeamish about buying anything since I thought second hand clothes were gross. I’m older and wiser now though!

    Reply
    1. TheGreatAmbini says:
      May 31, 2018 at 2:09 pm

      I used to be the second, but I wash everything before I wear it and now I don’t mind 🙂

      Reply

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