Shop your second hand heart out: The ultimate student guide to Liverpool’s charity shops

The end of February means the start of spring, and if you are as genuinely delusional as I am about Liverpool’s climate, then it’s the perfect time to start shopping for your warmer weather wardrobe.

It’s easy to be a self-proclaimed thrifting expert, but the key is to maximise your weekend trips to the charity shops by knowing the ins and outs of every local second-hand hotspot. Real charity shop hoppers know finding gorgeous clothes at a bargain price requires patience, and luck. The most efficient route to your next favourite piece is to find groups of charity shops in and around the city, a phenomenon that makes for much more effective browsing.

With that in mind, your first location hosts eight charity shops, and for you students, is situated a mere ten-minute walk away from the middle of Smithdown. Bargains galore, and not too far away – it’s a win-win situation.

Allerton Road

The eagle-eyed among you will already know Smithdown’s Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation and Barnardo’s, as both are virtually opposite the Brookie. Heading down Smithdown Road will lead you to the eight charity shops around Allerton Road, just beyond Penny Lane. The first is Oxfam, or, if you can figure out how to get into Penny Lane shopping centre (this has proved beyond me), another Barnardo’s. I promise this first Oxfam has a clothes section behind all the furniture. Venture on, and if you’re a thorough shopper, you will find your third Barnardo’s – a hotspot, if you will.

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Cross the road. This part of the guide will have you over the road and over the road and over the road again, meaning it’s a route you could probably streamline a little. I never do as I am incapable of walking past charity shops without looking in. Look out for the yellow sign of Open Door, which is more of a curated charity shop. Its prices reflect this, but it’s nothing outrageous, and if you’ve got more self control than me it can definitely be softer on the old student bank account.

Continue on and you’ll reach the more clothes-based Oxfam. Cross the road again for Claire House, where I once met the most beautiful leather jacket I have ever known, a petrol blue Lakeland number that was devastatingly too small.

Cross the road again, and I hope you’re counting with me, it’s your fourth Barnardo’s. One more nip across the road, and you’re at a personal favourite, St Joseph’s Hospice, which boasts a significant quantity of jewellery and several adorable drawers of scarves. Cross the road for the last time to reach your final stop, Age UK.

You’ve saved the money on clothes, treat yourself before your trek back home: I’m taking this moment to recommend the very expensive but very delicious café Bean There. Just to add to the itinerary again, you may be tempted en route to your first stop by Penny Lane Emporium. If you’re lucky and it’s open, it’s worth a mooch around.

Aigburth Road

Aigburth Road is a shorter list, with only four charity shops, but it’s my best kept secret and the cheapest I know of. Assuming you’re in Smithdown, there’s the added bonus of a walk through Sefton and down Lark Lane to get there. A few fun stores available on your way down Lark Lane include The Retro Room, Freida Mo’s, Number 13, and Phil’s Picture Palace. Gasp is also open at the weekend for all your antiques and oddities, and the Old Police Station regularly entertains with flea markets and fairs.

At the bottom of Lark Lane, cross the road and turn right, and you will find another St Joseph’s Hospice, the most expensive of the four. Continue on from St Joseph’s and you’ll get to Second Chance. A solid 90 per cent of their stock is only two pounds per item and I have found many old label pieces there, including my dream jeans, a real feat as a tall girl.

A little after Second Chance is Second Home, which feels like a jumble sale and is equally cheap. Last in line is my favourite of the four, Garston Animal Rescue. Again, you may have to dig a bit. I own a cross-stitch monochrome pink portrait of a ballerina from here and a 2008 CD titled Divas that I played exclusively for a month straight in my car. Beware though! This one is cash or bank transfer only.

If you fancy making an afternoon of the area and grabbing food, I can’t recommend Cartoccio’s highly enough. It’s a little Italian restaurant you’ll see before St Joseph’s that does these beautiful focaccia-esque pizza pockets, and at only £5 a piece they’re a welcome sight after a long day of splashing the cash on second-hand gems.

Prescot Road

This is a little further out, so if you don’t fancy the two mile walk, jump on the 60 bus route, and it’s pretty much door to door from the middle of Smithdown to your first stop, Woodlands Hospice. Charity shopping is a perfect solo activity, but nearly everything is improved by friends, so I advise dragging them with you for the journey.

Your second stop is a lovely British Heart Foundation, and following on is a Marie Curie, and then Barnardo’s. A warning about Barnardo’s in general: they do not often organise by size. This is a real pet peeve of mine but the cheap price of the clothes makes it worth it. After Barnardo’s is a British Red Cross if you can bear the radio, which is a mix of covers so out of tune I can only assume the copyright rules involve a mandate about it.

The last two are both furniture and clothes shops, perfect if your landlord has done you dirty and you need to kill two birds with one stone. Alder Hey is the cheapest of this lot and still has a decent amount of stock. Cross the road for your final stop, North West Air Ambulance.

Formby

Admittedly this is a significantly longer journey, but make a day of it!

As a top tip, if you take the train from Wavertree or Edge Hill and change at Lime Street to Central, you can get away with paying for just the train and not the bus to town as well. If you fancy a walk whilst you’ve got the ticket, getting off at Waterloo and walking up the beach to Hall Road or Hightown is delightful.

Waterloo has a couple of charity shops too, one of which is run by a very kind lady who gave me a top for free because I found myself there cashless- shout out PPS Future Living, you had some beautiful Aftershock deadstock too. Formby has plenty of café, pub, and restaurant options to top off your trip.

Whilst famous for its beach, there are nine charity shops in Formby. It’s a short walk from the station to the middle of the town, where you will first find Carla Lane, which offers bric-a-brac, many accessories, and a selection of clothes. Next door is the Age UK which provided me with my most worn scarf this winter.

Opposite is Claire House, my personal favourite. Last year I bought a butter yellow raincoat there and spent all spring feeling like a storybook character. My best friend also recently procured a beautiful full length Afghan there, so it must be a shop with good luck in coats.

Continue down the high street to the menswear edition of Barnardo’s. This one is a bit more expensive, but if you’re after some nice menswear or sports clothes then it’s ideal. Opposite is St Joseph’s Hospice. Opposite again is Formby PDSA, which has a nice vintage section in addition to its standard stock. Then you’ve got a Cancer Research, from which I own a pair of 100 per cent wool trousers. This is probably deeply uninteresting to anyone else, but fabric content is serious to me so I was chuffed to find them. My main advice for buying second-hand is always to check the labels for fabric and the brand.

Cross the road to reach Formby’s final two offerings, a British Heart Foundation, and an Oxfam.

Spending a day of your weekend trotting around town to search high and low for your next vintage label bargains makes for a wholesome low-cost activity to take on solo – or even to drag your friends to if they’re in the mood. Happy clothes hunting all!