Exeter's Best Charity Shops: A Treasure Hunter's Guide

The Case for Charity Shopping as a Social Activity

Here's an idea that costs almost nothing, supports good causes, and is genuinely more fun than it sounds: get a group of friends together and spend a Saturday morning working your way through Exeter's charity shops.

Charity shop crawls have become a quiet social phenomenon. Part treasure hunt, part sustainable shopping, part excuse to wander around a city without any particular agenda — they hit a sweet spot that very few other activities manage. You're not committing to an expensive meal. You're not stuck in one place for hours. You're moving, browsing, chatting, competing to find the most absurd item on the shelf, and occasionally discovering something genuinely brilliant for the price of a coffee.

Exeter is particularly well suited to this. The city has an impressive density of charity shops, spread across several distinct shopping areas, each with its own character. You can walk between clusters in minutes, breaking up the browsing with stops for coffee or lunch. And the variety is remarkable — from national chains like Oxfam and the British Heart Foundation to local charities like Hospiscare, FORCE Cancer Charity, and Devon Air Ambulance, there's a shop for every taste and every treasure.

This guide maps out the best charity shops in Exeter by area, tells you what each one is good for, and suggests a route you can follow on foot. Whether you're a seasoned thrifter or someone who has never set foot in a charity shop, consider this your invitation. It is one of the best free things to do in Exeter and pairs beautifully with a market day visit.

South Street: The Oxfam Double Act

Start on South Street, one of Exeter's main shopping streets, where two Oxfam shops sit side by side and form the backbone of any serious charity shop crawl.

Oxfam, 96 South Street

The main Oxfam shop at 96 South Street stocks the charity's signature mix of donated clothing, accessories, and homewares alongside new Fairtrade products, greetings cards, and gifts. It's well organised, consistently stocked, and tends to have a better-than-average selection of quality pieces. The volunteers here are knowledgeable and the turnover is fast, so it's worth visiting regularly — what's on the rails one week may be gone the next.

Oxfam Bookshop, 98 South Street

Right next door at number 98, the Oxfam Bookshop is a quieter, more contemplative stop. If your group includes anyone who loves books, budget twenty minutes here and accept that they'll emerge with a stack of paperbacks and a guilty expression. The selection covers fiction, non-fiction, academic titles (thanks to the university's proximity), and the occasional vinyl or CD for anyone still holding onto a physical music collection.

Sidwell Street: Diversity and Surprises

Walk up from South Street through the city centre to Sidwell Street, and the character of the shopping shifts. This is one of Exeter's most diverse and interesting streets — full of independent food shops, international grocers, and a scattering of charity shops that reward the curious.

RSPCA, Sidwell Street

The RSPCA shop on Sidwell Street is a reliable stop for anyone hunting for affordable clothing and accessories. It's well run, with clearly organised sections and regular restocking. The prices are reasonable even by charity shop standards, and there's usually a decent selection of kitchenware and household items alongside the clothing rails.

Children's Hospice South West, Sidwell Street

Located between York Road and Cheeke Street, the Children's Hospice South West shop offers homeware, clothing, toys, and multimedia. It's a smaller shop than some on this list, but that's part of its appeal — the stock is curated rather than overwhelming, and you're supporting one of Devon's most important children's charities.

British Heart Foundation, 160 Sidwell Street

At the far end of Sidwell Street, the BHF Home & Fashion Store at number 160 is the big one — a larger format shop selling secondhand furniture, electrical items, and homewares alongside clothing. If you're furnishing a flat on a budget or looking for a statement piece of furniture, this is the place. Sofas, tables, beds, wardrobes, televisions, and home appliances are all available, and the charity offers a free collection service for anyone wanting to donate larger items.

The clothing section has earned praise for its organisation, with a specially designated denim area featuring everything from skinny jeans to vintage Levi's. It's a proper secondhand department store.

Heavitree: The Neighbourhood Circuit

Take a short walk or bus ride east from the city centre to Heavitree, and you'll find another cluster of charity shops along Fore Street (not to be confused with the Fore Street in the city centre). Heavitree has a strong neighbourhood feel — less tourist footfall means less competition for the good stuff, and the shops here tend to have a more local, community character.

British Heart Foundation, 83 Fore Street, Heavitree

The BHF shop in Heavitree focuses on clothing, accessories, and smaller household items. It's a good complement to the larger BHF store on Sidwell Street — different stock, different donors, different finds.

FORCE Cancer Charity, 73 Fore Street, Heavitree

FORCE is a Devon-based cancer charity that provides support to local patients and their families. Their Heavitree shop at 73 Fore Street is a well-loved community fixture, selling clothing, books, bric-a-brac, and household items. Open Monday to Saturday from 10:30am to 4pm, it's the kind of shop where the volunteers know the regulars by name and there's always time for a chat.

Sue Ryder, Heavitree

Sue Ryder's Heavitree shop is another strong option on this stretch, offering good-value clothing, toys, furniture, books, and more. Sue Ryder's shops tend to be well presented, with items displayed in a way that makes browsing enjoyable rather than overwhelming. The charity supports people living with neurological conditions and those needing end-of-life care.

Cowick Street and St Thomas: Across the River

Cross the River Exe to Cowick Street and the St Thomas area for another pocket of charity shops with its own distinct character.

Devon Air Ambulance, Cowick Street

The Devon Air Ambulance charity shop on Cowick Street stocks clothing, accessories, books, toys, DVDs, CDs, and bric-a-brac. All proceeds go directly to keeping Devon's air ambulance service operational — a cause that resonates deeply in a rural county where helicopter access can be life-saving. The shop sits at the heart of the St Thomas shopping area and is worth including on any cross-city charity shop route.

Sue Ryder, Cowick Street

A second Sue Ryder shop, this one opposite St Thomas Square, offers a similar range to the Heavitree branch. The Cowick Street location tends to attract a slightly different pool of donors, so the stock rarely overlaps. Two Sue Ryder shops in one day might sound excessive, but serious thrifters know that the same charity in different locations can yield completely different finds.

The Thrift Warehouse: Something Different

For something outside the traditional charity shop model, The Secondhand Craft Shop & Thrift Warehouse at Unit 2, 8 Marsh Green Road North (EX2 8NY) is worth the journey. This not-for-profit community interest company operates on a simple model: everything donated is sold for £1. Everything.

The Thrift Warehouse accepts donations of clean, undamaged clothing, shoes, accessories, craft supplies, toys, children's books, homeware, and bric-a-brac. There are also fill-a-bag areas priced at £2, £3, and £5, where items work out to less than a pound each. It's not reseller-friendly by design — the emphasis is on affordability and community sharing.

The concept went viral on TikTok, with people travelling up to six hours to visit. It's open Monday to Saturday 9:30am to 5pm and Sundays 10:30am to 5pm, with limited parking (eight spaces). Check their Facebook page for the latest opening times and special events.

Vintage and Retro Alternatives

Beyond traditional charity shops, Exeter has a growing vintage and secondhand scene worth exploring. Flamingo's Vintage on the High Street hosts regular kilo sales — you pay by the weight of clothing you pick out, which turns bargain hunting into a genuine sport. Sobeys Vintage on Gandy Street offers carefully curated vintage pieces in one of the city's most characterful shopping lanes. And if you time your visit for a Fore Street Flea market day, you will find dozens of vintage and pre-loved traders selling everything from retro clothing to mid-century furniture.

For those who enjoy the hunt, the antiques quarter down at the Quayside is another rewarding stop — the Antiques Centre on the Quay brings together multiple dealers under one roof, and several independent antiques shops sit alongside it.

What to Look For: A Spotter's Guide

Charity shopping is more rewarding when you know what you're hunting for. Here are some tips for getting the most out of Exeter's shops:

Clothing: Look for quality fabrics and classic cuts rather than fast fashion. Charity shops near universities (Sidwell Street, South Street) tend to receive donations from students at the end of each academic year — June and July are prime months for barely-worn pieces.

Books: The Oxfam Bookshop on South Street is the obvious destination, but don't overlook the book sections in BHF and Hospiscare shops. Academic texts, cookbooks, and hardback fiction are often underpriced.

Homeware and furniture: The BHF Home & Fashion Store on Sidwell Street is the best single destination for larger items. For smaller homeware — mugs, glassware, kitchen gadgets — browse the smaller shops in Heavitree and on Cowick Street.

Vintage and unusual finds: The smaller, less-visited shops are where the real treasures hide. FORCE in Heavitree and Devon Air Ambulance on Cowick Street both turn up surprising items precisely because fewer people are looking.

Planning Your Charity Shop Crawl

Here's a suggested route that covers the main clusters in a morning:

1. South Street — Oxfam and Oxfam Bookshop
2. Sidwell Street — RSPCA, Children's Hospice South West, BHF Home & Fashion Store
3. Coffee break — stop at one of the city's best coffee shops to regroup and compare finds
4. Heavitree — BHF, FORCE Cancer Charity, Sue Ryder
5. Cowick Street — Devon Air Ambulance, Sue Ryder

The full route covers about three miles on foot and takes three to four hours if you're browsing properly. If you're driving, each cluster has nearby parking, or you can use the Park and Ride and add a bus journey into the adventure.

Why This Matters Beyond the Bargains

Charity shopping is, at its core, a community activity. Every purchase supports a local or national cause. Every donation keeps something out of landfill. And every volunteer behind the counter — and Exeter's charity shops are overwhelmingly staffed by volunteers — is someone giving their time to make the city a bit better.

But it's also a surprisingly effective social activity. Unlike conventional shopping, where everyone splits off and meets back at the car, charity shopping works best as a shared experience. You browse together. You hold things up for each other's verdict. You discover that your friend has inexplicably strong opinions about vintage crockery. You laugh at the bizarre board game from 1987 that somehow made it onto the shelf.

If you're looking for budget-friendly ways to socialise, a charity shop crawl is hard to beat. You can spend an entire morning out with friends and come home with a bag of interesting things for under a tenner. Compare that to a restaurant meal or a night at the pub, and the value proposition is obvious.

Exeter's charity shops are one of the city's underrated strengths. They're well stocked, well run, and spread across enough neighbourhoods that you can build a proper day out around them. Whether you're furnishing a first flat, hunting for a winter coat, building a library, or just looking for something fun to do on a Saturday that doesn't cost much and does some good — this is your starting point.

Grab some friends. Bring a tote bag. And prepare to find things you didn't know you needed.

Combining Your Charity Shop Crawl

A charity shop crawl works brilliantly as part of a broader Exeter day out. The South Street starting point is a stone's throw from Exeter Cathedral and the street art walking tour route. The Sidwell Street stretch passes Sophie Mess's spectacular Lily mural — one of the city's most photographed pieces of street art. And the Heavitree and Cowick Street legs take you through two of the city's most characterful neighbourhoods.

If you are on a tight budget, our Exeter on a budget guide has plenty more ideas for enjoying the city without breaking the bank. And if you'd rather do the crawl on your own, charity shopping solo is one of life's quietly excellent pleasures — no one questioning your taste, no one rushing you through the book section, and total freedom to buy that questionable vase without judgement.