For years they were derided as haunts fit only for soap-dodging students and eccentric old ladies, but in the past few years have gone through something of a renaissance.

Buying second-hand is no longer considered downmarket; in fact, it's even considered green, as most items have no carbon footprint and by purchasing them you are stopping them from being dumped in landfill sites.

And as the economic downturn has turned into a full-blown recession, shoppers think nothing now of buying everything from furniture to wedding dresses in charity shops.

But the hard times have a flip side, with many now choosing to hold on to goods, or sell them on Internet auction sites, such as eBay, rather than giving them away for charity.

Even retail expert Mary Portas has got in on the act, with her BBC show Mary Queen Of Charity Shops, which sees her battle to revamp a 20-year-old Save The Children store and get more people to donate. We went along to three shops in King Street, South Shields, to see how they are getting on.

The British Heart Foundation store has been managed by Lisa Burles for the past seven years.

So successful has her tenure at the shop been, it is now classed as the 18th most profitable out of 479 which the charity has nationwide.

"It's obviously through the good team we have here," she said. "The manager, assistant manager and, of course, the volunteers. We have a bunch of volunteers who are dedicated to the shop."

The 40-year-old mum-of-two, from Chester-le-Street, explained how, though sales are booming, donations are down by as much as 10 per cent on this time last year.

She said: "We are not getting as much as we usually get in, so we're trying to source new stock from clothing banks dotted all over South Tyneside.

"While the credit crunch is on, people are keeping their clothes for a little longer.

"It's a Catch-22 situation – though we have more customers coming in, they don't have a lot of money to spend, so they hang on to their old clothes."

With about £3,000 profit being made from bank-collected clothes per month, it's unsurprising that some criminal elements have tried to move in on the trade.

"Recently, the van driver called and said the police had stopped a van and some eastern Europeans had stolen 10 of our bags," Lisa said.

"We have to be vigilant. Everybody needs money, and times are hard, but luckily we got the bags back."

Customer Sandra Garcia, 26, a self-employed mother-of-one from Hebburn, often shops at the BHF store.

"I think a lot of the stuff is really cool and you save a lot of money," she said. "You get lots of bargains – you have just got to know what to look for."

A couple of minutes' walk away is a relatively new shop to King Street, Sue Ryder Care, which opened in January.

Manager Julie Durnion, 55, of Simonside, showed us around the storeroom in the back of the shop. Far from being depleted, it looked in rude
health.

"We have good supplies of donations, so we are doing all right here," married mum-of-five Julie said.

"We have a big warehouse in Peterborough and they have plenty of stock to bring up here if we run short."

Like many charity shops, it has had to cast its net further afield to maintain donations, although sales are going well.

"We have a van driver who goes out every week and drops 500 bags in North Tyneside, and we get about 14 per cent returns on these."

"Sales are great. For a new shop we do really well," she said. Further down King Street is the YMCA, where 37-year-old assistant manager Kerry Sweet, from South Shields, works.

She said: "It's one of the hardest jobs I've ever done. The speed at which you have to get things from the back and out, because of the turnover, is very quick.

"It's physically exhausting because you are moving furniture."

When asked if she thought charity shops were recession-proof, she said: "In my experience, which is limited, I would have to say yes, definitely. People are always going to come along and find a bargain.
"Business is booming. With today's climate and the credit crunch, we are doing very well."

The mum-of-two, who is perhaps better known to South Tynesiders as singer Mama Teapot, added: "Donations are fine. Sometimes we get people come into the shop with a couple of ornaments and they almost apologise for the fact they only have a couple of things – but please keep bringing them in.

"Please don't apologise either, it's your gift to us. We get to sell it and do great things for the kids."

It may just be a sign of the times, but for now it's clear charity shops seem to be doing just fine.

Long may it continue.

If you want to volunteer for any of the shops, go in and sign up, or call Lisa Burles on 427 9125, Julie Durnion on 427 0106 or Kerry Sweet on 456 4381.