A new little Brocki on the 304/308 bus route

UPDATE: January and February 2016 - I believe the store has now closed, either permanently or for renovations, but it looks as if it is being outfitted for another use. Will update when more information is available

 

If you're travelling between Zürich and Dietikon by bus (#304 or 308), you might consider making a stop in Unterengstringen, the village with the BP Station.

There's a new little Brocki I had the chance to check-out, thanks to a sandwich board announcing the "Neues Eröffnung". 
 

Closest bus stop: Langacher (between Langacher and Paradies), white building just past the BP Station.

The small Brocki has quite a bit of women's clothing and shoes and accessories, despite its small size. It also has a considerable assortment of baby clothes and toys, and some home decor items, two of which I purchased (vintage wool throw-cushion pillow cases, 2 for 10 Fr.).

The lady who runs the store is Turkish (I think), and both her and her mother are very friendly and warm. 

The downsides are that the store is poorly laid-out and cluttered (though aren't they all), and that the owner has a propensity for putting tags with handwritten "original retail prices" on them.... which are ludicrously inflated. You'll see what I mean if you go. :)

The actual price of the items in the shop are very reasonable and quite competitive, so I see no need to boast about the original price being so extraordinarily (and unbelievably) high. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I hate this sort of style. I liked the lady, however, so I'm willing to politely ignore the spin-doctoring!

So, the Pros and Cons and Tips (it's been awhile since I last reviewed a shop!):

Pros:

• Friendly owners 
• Reasonable prices
• Surprisingly good selection of women's clothing, shoes and accessories
• Quite a lot of baby clothing and toys
• Some interesting Turkish rugs or blankets with little Evil Eye glass beads sewn on - wish I had taken more time to investigate those! Back room, wall opposite the long clothing rack, top shelf.

Cons:

• Hilariously inflated 'original price' handwritten tags (but does not seem to reflect on the current prices, which are reasonable, as stated!)
• A little difficult to browse peacefully with such attentive and helpful sales staff (but like I said - really likeable ladies!)
• Middle of nowhere location, unless you happen to be passing through (shop is reasonably close to the BP Station, Radikal discount store, and a COOP)

Tips:

• Ignore the 'original price' tags!
• One could probably very successfully haggle and come up with a reduced rate on a collection of items - owners are friendly and engaging

Please comment and let me know if you've discovered a new Brocki in your neck of the woods! I will happily review it and post it here (or you can review it, and I'll post it here for you!). :)

TiZ

Donating Your Old Clothes and Textiles

Hello Thrifty Friends!

Today's post is on DONATING clothes, something I don't do as often as I should (being a pack-rat and all). 

Obviously, there's no shortage of places to donate your hand-me-downs to. My personal favourites are The Salvation Army (Heils-Armee) and CARITAS, because of the important social work that they do in our community.

There are also Texaid containers in your neighbourhood or at your local bahnhof, if you don't want to have to go far: http://www.texaid.ch/en-us/clothesdisposal/containers.aspx Please note that Texaid donates your clothing to first-aid organizations (when the clothes are needed), but that they mostly re-sell the clothing in 'emerging markets' (i.e. 3rd world countries). Whether or not this is alright with you I'll let you decide. It's a grey area for me. My vote will always go to the local charities.

I really would implore you not to donate to Brockiland. I know of two people who have done so, obviously of the mind that if it's a second-hand shop, it's a charity shop. NOT SO! Brockiland is a for-profit enterprise, and the only good you're doing is lining the pockets of businessmen. Now contrast this with the clean bed and warm meals provided by The Salvation Army volunteers every day for the unloved and downtrodden, or the safe-house for the beaten mother and kid that CARITAS helps to fund. Where you donate is really up to you - but please don't donate clothes to a company when there are many local charities that rely solely on donations to keep them afloat!

HOWEVER....

There's another option. Maybe not a better one, but perhaps one could make an argument that with its vast, international infrastructure, it can have a bigger positive impact, despite also lining the pockets of some very rich white men at the top....

H&M - Long Live Fashion campaign

Yes, for each bag of old clothes or home textiles you bring into H&M for donation, a 'Rabattgutschein' (rebate voucher) will be given to you. The brochure doesn't specify how much, but still - a little cash can go a long way at H&M.

I remember reading up on H&M in the eco-conscious reports, and, surprisingly, it actually doesn't score too bad, particularly on the human-rights front (in comparison to other major clothing manufacturers - I seem to remember hearing that Forever21 was one of the worst for human rights violations, despite their Christian messages on the bottom of their bags. Ironic!). 

So there you have it. A bit of a tip for you - if you're in the need of underwear and other things you dare not buy secondhand, and you have a bag of clothing to donate, H&M might pay off rather well for you! 

And if you'd rather donate to the Heils-Armee or CARITAS instead, you can still go shopping at H&M later and not pay very much. ;)

In summary, my suggestion is:

1. Donate your NICE clothes to CARITAS or the Heils-Armee.
2. Donate your worn-out, awful, unwearable, thread-bare clothes and textiles to H&M and cash in on that rebate. As you can see here, they recycle the fibres into insulation and other products - they don't care if the clothes are resaleable or not.

Torn, worn clothes and textiles  -> H&M = $ for you!

Nice, marketable clothes -> local charity shop = Good Karma for you, $ for them!

In other news....

Yet another vote of support from a friend of mine (and her sisters!) for the Brockenhaus (Blaues Kreuz) in Bülach - one of the sisters totally refurbished a new house from that Brocki! And do these sisters ever have style and taste, let me tell you! :) A visit to the Blaues Kreuz Brocki is well worth the price of the SBB ticket!

Stay cool in this heat wave, thrifty friends!

TiZ