Oxfam

Great shop. Open Sunday now 12-4 up to Xmas

I love having a wander around charity shops when I have some free time and have found some nice things in Oxfam Cambridge.
You can find lots of well organised books and vinyls and a good bric-à-brac selections upstairs and could easily spend an hour in there. I do agree with other reviews that is not exactly cheap for a charity shop but I think its aligned with Cambridge standards. I would recommend paying a visit :)

Good Charity shop

Lovely shop and staff. In comparison to other charity shops in Cambridge though, the prices are on the higher side and the selection is on the smaller side. But it is worth a visit!

An excellent selection of books.

Dreadful! Two days ago my wife chose a Feraud mac. For some reason it was taken into the back room and then directly to the till from there. When she got home 100 miles away it was not the same mac but an inferior mark. Tourist scam? BEWARE

I frequently check out the charity shops in town and have, in the past, found some great things for a reasonable price. However, I recently walked past this Oxfam shop and saw a second-hand book in the window display that was priced at £90! It wasn't an antique first edition, merely a specialist scientific book. This book costs the same at a second-hand book seller on Amazon, but at least they will be more likely to reach the right audience as they are online.

I see no reason for a shop that gets their stock for free, has severely-reduced business rates, and gets a lot of their labour for free, to charge such outlandish prices! Yes yes, they try to 'raise as much money as possible for charity' but that doesn't mean asking close to a hundred pounds for a second-hand book (that you got for free, that was likely placed in the window by someone working for you for free) is reasonable.

I have the impression prices in most charity shops in Cambridge have gone up a lot in the last few years. I would think that charity shops try to not only raise money for charity but also offer goods at a reduced price (because they are second hand) so that people with little spending money can make that money go further. However, the latter no longer seems to be the case. I will thus no longer donate goods to big-chain charity shops that charge an arm and a leg for items they have gotten for free (btw, they often sell some new items as well, I wonder if that's allowed if they are on a reduced business rate?). The Salvation Army charity shop on Mill Road should still have reasonable prices, as does the Romsey Mill Charity shop (also on Mill Road). The Arthur Rank Hospice shops are good too. Emmaus has a charity shop outside of Cambridge (easily accessible via car) and has good stuff on sale for reasonable prices too.

If Oxfam want to charge such ridiculous prices, why not have their own account on Amazon where they'll list books they think can raise these crazy prices, and leave these items out of shop windows? A £90 book in a shop window is giving off the impression that the shop is a boutique or specialist book shop, not a charity shop.

BTW: Oxfam do sell things on their own website. Some 'bargains':

- Karen Millen women's jumper priced at £45
- Fake alligator Osprey handbag at £80
- 4" (yes, you read that right) Dior coin purse at £60
- MAISON SCOTCH jeans at £100 (same price as new)
- quite worn-down men's brown leather belt at £20
- old brown leather jacket at £200

This is excluding the £4 postage.

Incorrect info on site regards donations.** THEY'RE NOT TAKING ANY AT THE MOMENT** Site info says they are!!! Spent hours sorting stuff out walked a long way with heavy bag, to be told we cant take it as theyre chocabloc... 😬