mary portas is she doing a disservice to charity shops?

london
I started out by replying to eastendlass in the previous post and for some reason, suddenly it disappeared and was wiped out whilst i was typing it. The whole laptop began to shut down. I found out the laptop was installing a new update. My reply was getting lengthy too, so I decided to open a new post about it instead.
I would like to thank eastendlass for her comments. At last we have someone who has worked in the charity business and can talk sense. She says mary portas is not doing anything new. That charities have brought in managers and redone their premises 10yrs ago.
she is right about mary portas not doing anything new. Retailing has been going on for years, and has a very ancient history, so i daresay nothing is done now that has not been done before in the far past or in the recent past.
What i think mary portas has done is to let the cat out of the bag. People now know for sure that charities are a business and out to make money. They say they are doing it to increase money to the charity. But many casual observers must have make the connection that if they are hiring managers, and staff, and revamping shops, much of the profits will go to paying for it. I am sure the charities will see an increase in profits, but the prices will bound to go up, and a lot of us who do charity shopping do so precisely because the prices are low. It will drive us away. (In fact, it has allready driven me away from london's charity shops)
Long ago, in my naive days, I used to think that charity shops got their premises from donations by the owners of hard to let shops, or shops that are in-between refitting or in-between owners, or even shops that await the receivers. They were temporary in nature. And i used to think they serve a useful community service too, by providing an outlet for second hand goods for recycling.I thought it was a great way for people starting a new home or family to equip it with the essentials or clothe their young family cheaply and to recycle the stuff when they out grow it. The charity's outgoings are practically nil, so everything they sell is pure profit. So it does not matter that the takings are not high. It is the high turnover that counts.

But eastendlass has disillusioned me on that, she says the primary aim is to make money.
so they bring in the business men, and i think everything goes downhill from there, as far as consumers like me are concerned.
Business wants to increase profit per item rather than increase turnover and have low profit. It is the opposite of the old way of trade in charity shop. Charity shops are like libraries, where u borrow some item at a cheap rate, use it and when u finish with it u return it for it to be resold. That is how i used to think about charity shops. Turnover is high on low costs.
What mary portas may have done is to publicise and to tell everyone that charity shops are big businesses now. We may have long ago suspected that big business has settled in, but the idea has not crystallised.Eastendlass says it is ok to think of it as a business giving the admirable excuse that it maximise the money for the charity. Like people defending capitalism, it is all done to increase shareholder returns. so that is ok then, nevermind if it destroys the environment, and natural resources, that is no concern of ours. So what if our desire to sell tuna sandwiches cause their numbers to be depleted. That is their lookout, serves them right for being so delicious.haha. Though charities are not in the same league, but by running it like a big business destroys its library function.
Charities are meant to be more caring. will mary portas' tv program about the inner running of the charity shops make people realise that charities are just as mercenery?so gone is a nice way for people to furnish their houses cheaply and return those items when they have finished with it to be resold to another deserving family ad infinitum.
I think it would have been better if mary portas says she is addressing a niche market, 2nd hand designer goods and accessories. And to open special outlets to sell them to their fashion victim customers. haha. Well, if she do not say so, the more savvy of us can say it for her.

That way the rest of the charity shops can ignore it and not follow. Because if they all do, prices will go up and that will drive customers away. And if people get the impression that charity shops dont like our donations, and just want expensive items, we shall just put them in recycling bins and let everyone take it free.
I have a thought. I have found out i can get my things free from recycling bins, so have stopped going to charity shops in london. If charity shops keep increasing their prices, will more and more people start doing what i m doing?
We may find this is the start of the demise of the ordinary charity shops...and we are left with designer charity shops instead.
Found this article about the orpington shop. the comments are interesting.
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/whereilive/southeast/bromley/4419964.ORPINGTON__Volunteers_praise_Mary_Portas__Queen_of_Shops/