Scottish city crowned top second hand shopping destination in UK beating London

New research has revealed the top second hand shopping destinations in the UK, and one Scottish city has beat out London for the top spot.

With people across Scotland and the UK looking to save money and the environment by buying pre-owned clothing, there is an increasing market for charity and vintage clothes shops. However, some places are better for thrifting than others.

New research conducted by online auction marketplace Jog It On has revealed the 10 best cities for second hand shopping across the UK, based on factors such as the number of charity shops and their popularity on social media. Coming in at number one on the list is Glasgow.

According to the experts, Glasgow is home to 102 charity shops — the sixth highest per capita in the UK — while the city’s charity shops also receive a lot of attention on TikTok, with the third-highest number of hashtags in the nation at 65. Meanwhile, Glasgow was also found to be very popular on Instagram, with the hashtag #VintageGlasgow in particular being used on 14,795 posts.

Glasgow’s charity shops have previously been highlighted by British Vogue in a list of the UK’s best spots for fashion finds. Non-profit thrift store Glad Rags and Shelter on Great Western Road in particular were singled out by the fashion magazine.

Elsewhere, Glasgow is also rich in second hand book shops. One of the most popular is Voltaire & Rousseau Booksellers in the West End, where customers can warm their hands by the fire and catch a glimpse of the resident cats while they browse.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh follows behind on the list in third place behind Manchester. According to the experts, the Scottish capital has the second highest number of charity shops per capita in the UK with 105. Additionally, they found that the hashtag #EdinburghCharityShops has been used on TikTok 13 times, while Edinburgh was also the fourth best performer on Instagram.

The famous W. Armstrong & Son vintage clothing and accessories emporium, which has four different sites around the city centre, is especially beloved amongst locals. There are also various branches of Shelter around the city, with the Stockbridge shop in particular famous for its yearly January sale.

To put together its list of the best destinations for second hand shopping, the experts at Jog It On investigated how many charity shops were in each UK city. They then went to TikTok and Instagram to search for hashtags relating to second hand and vintage fashion, before assigning each city an overall score.

More information about the study and the methodology used can be found on the Jog It On website.

The 10 best cities in the UK for second hand shopping

1. Glasgow
2. Manchester
3. Edinburgh
4. Bristol
5. London
6. Leeds
7. Sheffield
8. Cardiff
9. Reading
10. Liverpool

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