Thrift stores in Manchester

Manchester, England has 541 thrift and charity shops on the map right now. 519 of them are charity shops and 22 are independent second-hand stores, so Manchester gives you both flavours of thrifting in one trip. Stock turns over fast in all of them, so the shop that had nothing last month might have your thing this week.

This guide covers every thrift store we could verify in and around Manchester (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include CEX Entertainment Exchange and Manacare Foundation, plus Manacare Foundation — each with its own personality, which is half the fun. If a shop's missing from Manchester's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet — the scene is bigger than any single dataset.

Mosley Street, Manchester - geograph.org.uk - 709966 — Photograph by Dr Neil Clifton (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons

The Manchester thrift lineup

541 mapped within about 40 km — showing 60:

CEX Entertainment Exchange

Second-hand store

CEX Entertainment Exchange — an independent second-hand store on 31 Northgate.

31 Northgate

Manacare Foundation

Charity shop

Manacare Foundation — a charity shop.

Manacare Foundation

Charity shop

Manacare Foundation is a charity shop.

Cancer Research UK

Charity shop

Cancer Research UK — a charity shop, found on 1 Ramsden Street in Huddersfield. Also worth knowing about Cancer Research UK: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.

1 Ramsden Street, Huddersfield

Phone: +44 1484 518035

Wigan & Leigh Hospice

Charity shop

Wigan & Leigh Hospice — a charity shop, found on 26 Market Street in Wigan. Also worth knowing about Wigan & Leigh Hospice: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.

26 Market Street, Wigan, WN6 0HN

Phone: +44 1257 423 558

Sue Ryder

Charity shopRun by sue ryder

Sue Ryder is a charity shop run by sue ryder.

Sense

Charity shop

Sense is a charity shop.

British Heart Foundation

Charity shopRun by British heart Foundation

British Heart Foundation is a charity shop run by British heart Foundation on 587 Wilbraham Road, Manchester. British Heart Foundation also notes on the map: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.

587 Wilbraham Road, Manchester, M21 9AF

Phone: +44 161 526 3765

Mosley Street - geograph.org.uk - 4700211 — Photo: Bradley Michael, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cancer Research UK

Charity shop

Cancer Research UK is a charity shop.

Oxfam

Charity shop

Oxfam is a charity shop on Manchester Fort Shopping Park, Manchester. Oxfam also notes on the map: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.

Manchester Fort Shopping Park, Manchester, M8 8EP

Phone: +44161 641 3950

Website

Oxfam

Charity shop

Oxfam is a charity shop. Oxfam also notes on the map: it has a website with more detail.

Website

Barnardo's

Charity shop

Barnardo's — a charity shop, found on Piccadilly Station Approach in Manchester. Also worth knowing about Barnardo's: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 09:00-17:00; Su 11:00-17:00.

Piccadilly Station Approach, Manchester

Hours: Mo-Sa 09:00-17:00; Su 11:00-17:00

New York Street scene - geograph.org.uk - 2292744 — Image: Thomas Nugent / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Re-Market

Second-hand store

Re-Market — an independent second-hand store, found on 4-10 Piccadilly in Manchester.

4-10 Piccadilly, Manchester, M1 3AN

British Heart Foundation

Charity shop

British Heart Foundation — a charity shop, found on 2 Henshaw Street in Oldham. Also worth knowing about British Heart Foundation: it has a website with more detail.

2 Henshaw Street, Oldham, OL1 3AA

Website

Oxfam

Charity shop

Oxfam is a charity shop on 8-10 Oldham Street, Manchester. Oxfam also notes on the map: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.

8-10 Oldham Street, Manchester, M1 1JQ

Phone: +44 161 228 3797

Website

Mind

Charity shop

Mind — a charity shop, found on Finney Lane in Cheadle.

Finney Lane, Cheadle

St Ann's Hospice

Charity shop

St Ann's Hospice — a charity shop, found on Finney Lane in Heald Green.

Finney Lane, Heald Green

Beechwood

Charity shop

Beechwood — a charity shop, found on Finney Lane in Heald Green.

Finney Lane, Heald Green

Charity shop

Cancer Research UK — a charity shop.

Moya Cole Hospice

Charity shop

Moya Cole Hospice — a charity shop, found on 33 Great Underbank in Stockport. Also worth knowing about Moya Cole Hospice: the map lists its hours as Tu-Sa 09:30-16:30.

33 Great Underbank, Stockport, SK1 1NE

Hours: Tu-Sa 09:30-16:30

Cancer Research UK

Charity shop

Cancer Research UK — a charity shop.

RSPCA

Charity shopRun by RSPCA

RSPCA is a charity shop run by RSPCA on 15 Oak Street. RSPCA also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:00-17:00; Su 11:00-17:00; it has a website with more detail.

Sue Ryder

Charity shop

Sue Ryder — a charity shop, found on 15 King Street in Blackburn. Also worth knowing about Sue Ryder: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.

15 King Street, Blackburn, BB2 2DH

Phone: +44 1254 696878

The Salvation Army

Charity shop

The Salvation Army — a charity shop.

Cash Generator

Second-hand store

Cash Generator is an independent second-hand store on 1242 Chester Road, Manchester. Cash Generator also notes on the map: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.

1242 Chester Road, Manchester, M32 8WB

Phone: +44 161 864 3292

Oxfam Bookshop

Charity shop

Oxfam Bookshop — a charity shop, found on 605 Wilbraham Road in Manchester. Also worth knowing about Oxfam Bookshop: it has a website with more detail.

Marie Curie

Charity shop

Marie Curie — a charity shop.

Wigan & Leigh Hospice

Charity shop

Wigan & Leigh Hospice — a charity shop.

Charity shop

Barnardo's — a charity shop.

Cancer Research UK

Charity shop

Cancer Research UK — a charity shop.

Oxfam

Charity shop

136 of the 541 shops list their opening hours, which is unusually helpful for Manchester — thrift stores are notorious for surprise closures. Still, call ahead if you're making a special trip to Manchester; volunteer-run shops sometimes close early on quiet days.

134 shops have websites listed, worth a look before you go — some post new arrivals or sale days online.

Thrift shops cluster a little: 7 of them sit on Hough Lane, so you can string those into one walk and hit the rest by car.

The Manchester thrift circuit

Plot these 541 on a map and the day plans itself: CEX Entertainment Exchange on 31 Northgate, Manacare Foundation, Manacare Foundation, Cancer Research UK on 1 Ramsden Street, Wigan & Leigh Hospice on 26 Market Street, Sue Ryder, Sense, and British Heart Foundation on 587 Wilbraham Road. That's the full Manchester circuit in one sensible order. 533 more are listed below.

Thrifting tips for Manchester

A few things worth knowing before you work through Manchester's thrift stores:

The housewares aisle rewards patience at CEX Entertainment Exchange. Cast iron, Pyrex, good knives — they all surface eventually. Check the bottom shelves; heavy things live low.
Try everything on at Manacare Foundation. Sizing across decades is chaos. The fitting room — or a brave moment by the mirror — saves you from the almost-right jacket.
Visit at opening time. Serious pickers arrive at opening. You don't have to be one of them, but the first hour has the best pick of the day's restock.
Shop the wrong season on purpose. Coats are cheapest in spring, fans in autumn. Off-season racks are picked over less and priced to move.

Good to know

We searched about 40 km around Manchester — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to for a thrifting run. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new shop in Manchester can take a while to appear. Spotted a closure among the 541, or a shop we missed entirely? The map is the source of truth here — one OpenStreetMap edit corrects it for everyone.

Prices at Manchester's thrift stores are set by each shop and change constantly, so we don't list them. As a rough rule, charity shops are the cheapest, independents sit in the middle, and anything labelled vintage costs more everywhere — Manchester included.

Thrift store listings for Manchester: 541 mapped from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Photos from Wikimedia Commons contributors; individual photo credits appear in captions. Listing data was last refreshed automatically — verify hours before visiting.