Over the last twenty years the one shop that hasn't struggle to keep its place on the high street is the charity shop. In many ways the proliferation of charity shops mirrors the decline in the other shops, often moving into their recently vacated properties. The rise of the charity shop corresponds to an increase in shops like Primark which are almost cheap enough to make what they sell disposable and the charity shops are there to take up the unwanted items and to assuage our guilt. I find this superabundance of unwanted items a sad reflection on our consumer society but also really interesting. Where does it all end up going? Is there a healthy process of recycling taking place? I wanted to know more so I decided to do a photographic investigation into the world of charity shops.