Unwanted presents come part and parcel with the festive season. With the winter holidays now over, many may be thinking about what to do with excess presents – sell them, give them away, or just toss them into the trash.
In fact, Kyiv has lots of charity stores, flea markets and even municipal companies where one can donate or sell a range of items, from clothes and footwear to books and even unwanted Christmas trees. The Kyiv Post looked into various options for offloading useless Christmas gifts.
Clothing and footwear
Receiving an unsightly and unwearable Christmas sweater, uncomfortable pajamas or the tenth pair of mittens as a holiday gift is no reason to make one upset –there are lots of places that will accept clothes in Kyiv. Here are a few popular spots:
Laska charity store
Ukraine’s first charity shop takes in second-hand clothes, sorts them, and resells the most stylish items. Clothes that don’t qualify for sale is donated to orphanages, internally displaced people or the needy. Customers can buy the good quality clothing in the shop or via Laska’s Instagram account. Prices are more than reasonable – a dress on average costs Hr 200, a coat goes for Hr 200-300, while jeans or shirts are Hr 150-170.Income over and above the costs of running the business is donated to charity.
15 Malopidvalna St. or 3 Lypynskoho St. Open every day from 10 a.m. till 9 p.m. For more detailed information go to laskastore.com
Kurazh Bazaar flea market
Those who want to sell unwanted clothing can try the Kurazh Bazaar, the biggest monthly flea market in Kyiv. To take part in it a potential seller has to register online at kurazhbazar.com.ua. One may sell anything from clothing to souvenirs and books. The only requirement is that the items should be of good quality. Bargain hunters can find brand new clothes by Ukrainian designers at the bazaar.
Find out about the market’s schedule at kurazhbazar.com.ua or at its Facebook page facebook.com/kurazhbazar/about/
Shafa website
Shafa helps people sell and buy second-hand clothes and accessories. To sell unwanted items, a potential seller has to register on the website and upload several photos of the goods. If someone is interested in what’s on offer, they contact the seller directly.
The website’s catalogue includes hundreds of clothing articles at various prices and sizes. However, Shafa only sells women’s clothing.
For more information visit shafa.ua
Some joy to the needy
Knick-knacks like little vases, toys, souvenirs and hand-made bric-a-brac don’t have to clutter the home or gather dust in a closet – such gifts may be exchanged for more useful items, or bring some happiness to the needy. Those wanting to donate such items can register on otdamdarom.com.ua or the ViddamProdam I Podaruu Facebook group (facebook.com/groups/viddam.prodam/?fref=ts), which connects users to exchange, donate, or sell pottery, accessories, perfumes and even medicines.
Solidarity shop
The Solidarity shop is a non-profit organization aimed at helping the needy. Its workers are glad of any donations – clothing, accessories, souvenirs or even paintings. The donations are sorted and the best quality goods sold in the shop, with the revenue going to the needy. Sometimes brand new items can be found there.
For more information visit facebook.com/mzmsolidarity/about/?ref=page_internal
Pliushkin website
There are more than 37,000 items on Pliushkin, a website that takes its name from Stepan Pliushkin, a fictional character in Nikolai Gogol’s novel “Dead Souls,” who collected and amasses various useless things. Like Gogol’s Pliushkin, the website does not sell anything, but its users can exchange useless stuff. One only needs to register and upload photos of their items.
For more information visit plushkin.org
Books
An unwanted book can bring a lot of happiness and joy to many people. Just donate unwanted books to local libraries, orphanages or simply leave one in a public place, to be picked up by anyone who finds it interesting, a practice known as bookcrossing.
Daryna Zholdak foundation
This charity foundation promotes reading, Ukrainian literature, culture and art. It collects children’s literature, which is then given to children in orphanages around the country. To donate a book, one just has to order a special box on the foundation’s website and fill it with children’s books. The language of the book, its publisher and age do not matter.
For more information visit zholdak.org
Bookcrossing
Bookcrossing, the practice of leaving a book in a public place so that others can pick it up to read it, and then to similarly pass it on to others, is not very popular in Ukraine. But Kyiv does have some places where book lovers can share their paperbacks:
Buffet vegetarian café
28 Vasylkivska St., Vasylkivsky shopping mall. Open Mon. – Friday 9 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. Sat.10.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m., Sun. 10.30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Liubov Morkov café
23/8 Sahaydachnoho St. Open daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Ye book store
3 Lysenka St. Open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
What to do with useless Christmas trees
Every year when the winter holidays end, piles of Christmas trees mount up near trash bins around Kyiv. But this year the KyivzelenbudMunicipal Association has called on Kyivans to contribute to environmental protection by bring in gold trees to special Christmas tree collection points, where Kyivzelenbud will recycle the wood and use it as fertilizers for trees in Kyiv’s parks and squares.
A map of the Christmas trees collection points can be found here.
Kyivanscan hand in their Christmas trees until Feb. 1
For more information go to kievzelenbud.com
