March 2024 by Robin
I volunteered at Shelter for almost 1.5 years and it was a great experience. I started for 3 months for DofE, but liked it so much I kept going. Everyone was always very friendly and helpful, and I always felt very welcome and included. Managing the shop could be very stressful, but all the managers handled things really well, and were always understanding about when I couldn't come in, etc. I got to develop lots of skills and my anxiety improved a lot after volunteering.
March 2024 by TheOldSparkle
I'm a repeat customer of Shelter Nicolson street and they never disappoint. The shop is full of treasures and vintage clothing. The staff are always very friendly and helpful. Definitely worth a visit!
March 2024 by Andrew Cairns
Unique shop with good prices and very friendly and helpful staff.
March 2024 by Anna James
Shelter Nicholson Street always feels like home from home. Every time I go in they make me feel like family :) Obviously prices are higher everywhere you go but knowing the money I spend in here goes to help people in a similar situation to me makes me feel good and I also shop smarter. Thank you to the lovely team?you get it x
March 2024 by scott main
Had a wide selection and found the staff friendly and helpful
March 2024 by Lilian M.
Nice place to buy a haunted doll
November 2023 by Kathryn Maclennan
Not very inclusive... Okay prices, but as a member of a marginalised group I didn't feel welcome.
April 2023 by H M
I had someone accost me on the street asking me to donate to Shelter - very pushy and felt like I could not get out of the situation as they poach you off the pavement. It made me incredibly uncomfortable - this is not the way to make people donate. Disgraceful.
November 2018 by Jan Barker
The tiny shop is more like an emporium of wonderful items. Such care has gone into the presentation and arrangement of the items that browsing here is a delight.There is always a great selection of clothing and homewares along with unusual, quirky and hard to find items.Have a look and support this wonderful organisation.
November 2014 by Megan McGregor
One of my favourites on the 'Nicholson Charity shop run'. Quite a small and cramped charity shop but great for a rummage around! Look for long enough and you're bound to find some treasures. Some of my favourite purchases include some adorable gold and duck egg espresso cups, a set of desert forks which I have polished up, and a gorgeous silk scarf!
October 2013 by Cressida F.
It seems mad to say that shops that are run entirely on customer donations often have individual styles, but it's true. The charity shop family is well-defined in my mind. There's the older lady in lemon crimplene with porcelain horses on her mantelpiece. There's her nephew in denim and his wife in a floral shift dress. There are the cool students in jackets, jeans and boots, listening to vinyls. Then there's Shelter on Nicolson Street, their renegade 90s grunge-mix rebel cousin. She wears a man's leather jacket five sizes too large over a flamenco dress. In her lace-cuffed socks, Doc Martens, and fluorescent beads, she mooches along the street listening to Garbage. Though charity shops in general are experiencing something of a rebirth with the vintage revolution, Shelter seems to be treading its own path. Rather than the space and carefully-arranged rails of many of its relatives, when I walked in it was cramped, chaotic, and colourful. I found a mad garment in there, which I could only assume was, once upon a time, worn by a pantomime dame, and which refused utterly to stay still in my hands but turned itself over, ruffle over ruffle, until I had no idea what I was holding. If I'd even known to begin with. The whole experience was a bewildering joy. One of my most fun moments in the day is staring at the wardrobe in the morning and figuring out what to do with myself today. I've found a new go-to place to spark up those moments. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I found a dressing-up box I didn't want to leave.
June 2011 by Shelter Scotland
Want to try volunteering in a fun and friendly atmosphere? Maybe build up your CV and earn valuable skills.
July 2010 by Rezzi I.
Shelter is a charity shop, so I feel a little politically incorrect bashing it, but my complaints are totally aesthetic. The other ones on the street, namely Oxfam, Cancer Research and Barnado's are so much nicer to look at! One the one hand, the other stores may just be better at concealing the fact that all these products have been owned by someone else (a fact I'm sadly not too comfortable with) but it'd also help if Shelter was a little bit better organised. What it does have going for it is that it's not as strict on what it sells, so you could leave with anything from a tunic made in India (I did!), some cooking utensils, a book, or a colourfully sequined hat!
July 2010 by Fiona H.
I'll never forget the day I walked past this Shelter shop and spotted a huge gold batik print opened out as a backdrop for the window display. It. was. beautiful. And it was only £30, which is more than a bargain in anyone's book. Unfortunately, my then boyfriend who I was walking with didn't pick up on any of the ten or so hints I dropped on the way home, even though it was 3 weeks to christmas (!) and so sadly it doesn't belong to me. Whoever does own it, you are very lucky. And you have amazing taste. The moral of my ramble is this: whilst some charity shops' stock is not the sort of thing you'd drool over in the window, this place definitely does not fall into that category. It's like a cross between a vintage clothes shop and a one-off homeware boutique, but at amazing prices. What's not to love?!
July 2010 by Eleanor M.
I completely agree with the previous reviewers - the branch of Shelter is excellent! It's of a good size so all the better for the amount of goodies they can display at any given time - which is a lot. I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked in as they have so many items and there's literally no wall space untouched. On a recent visit I noticed a stack of board games including; Monopoly, Operation, Hungry Hippos and Buckaroo (which I've always wanted). In addition to board games they have a stack of clothing, a whole section for ornaments and other bric-a-brac and a little alcove dedicated to books, CDs, videos and DVDs. It's good to see that this Shelter draws all the punters in with it's overload of goodies as it's raising money for an excellent cause.
