Tips and Tricks
A visit to Humana
Humana second hand shop
Location: V. Szent István boulevard 9.
Open: M-F: 9:30-20:00, Sat: 9:00-15:00
Male edition
“I think a second hand is a great place for youngsters. Why? You can buy cheap, trendy and in most cases designer-labeled clothing. I’ve bought my Zara jeans and shirt here (Renoválás), for 2000 HUF (9 USD). Friends showed me Hugo Boss suits, LaCoste shirts, Armani T-shirts bought dirt cheap, and you couldn’t really tell they were from another owner. I think less people should know about these shops, so I can pick out the good deals first :-D”.
Location: 1061. Király Street 28
Open: M-Sat: 10:00-20:00. Sun: 12:00-18:00
Shopline
If you have already visited many of the city's second hand shops and you decided what your favorite ones are, you have a chance to make your shopping easier and faster. There are lot of stores, which offer online shopping, in case you know what kind of clothes you would like to buy, but you do not have enough time or you are not in the mood to go out and travel around the city. Because this blog is mainly made for foreign people, in this post I try to explain how to use Hungarian second hand stores' websites.
yorkmode.hu
This online shop deals with clothes for women, men and children as well. If you look at the left side of it, you can see the label Webáruház (Online Shop). Under this are the genders: női ruhák means women's clothes, gyermek ruhák means clothes for children, and férfi ruhák is men's clothes in Hungarian. Than you click for example on the label for women's clothes and than you can see a variety of clothes. As the layout is different from site to site, I suggest to just go through the labels and see the pictures of clothes so you can find out which is which. I clicked on női rövidnadrágok, which is shorts for women and a lot of pictures of shorts just popped up. If you click on the picture, a new site comes up. There you can see your item's picture on the left, and it's description on the right. Szín is the color, nem means the gender, and méret is the size of the shorts.Under it you can see it's lenght and width in centimetres. You can also check its price; unfortunately it is in HUF. However, Google solves your problem quickly, you just have to type for example 2000 HUF in USD and you can see that it costs 9 US dollars. If you are satisfied with everything regarding your chosen item you can click on kosárba, which means into the cart. Than the page will show you an arrow to the left with a vásárlás folytatása. This means that you can go back and pick other clothes. If you click to the right arrow, which says a vásárlás befejezése than you will finish your shopping. On the upper side you can see the total price of the clothes. First, you have to choose the method of delivery. You can pick it up in the shop, or ask for delivery to your home; pre-paid or cash. Your last thing to do is fill in the gaps with your personal data: first name, last name, phone number, city, street&number of your house. You only have to write in the boxes signed with a star. Than you click on vásárlás befejezése again and this is it.
gyerektrend.hu
This is an onlie shop only for children. I think this is a quite good one, because you can choose by sizes. The only problem is that these sizes are in the European system, but I found a chart in which there are the Europan sizes in the UK and US system. If you found the best for the appropriate child, then the process is the same that I have written before.The only difference is that you can find the labels under termékeink, which is our products on the left side. Also, on this site, you can only have the clothes delivered, so you have to decide how you will pre-pay: you can transfer money from your credit card, send it by cheque, or pay with PayPal.
Renoválás
Between the Blaha Lujza Square and the Wesselényi Street hidden in the basement of a building we can find this tiny, communist-like shop. Its design is quite harsh, with its lamps looking like an eighties era elemantary school's ones and the plain walls. It is clear that they put the focus rather on the clothes, and not at all on the design of the shop.To be honest, I would expected more effort to create a store that has a nice atmosphere.
The reason of my first disappointment was that I heard a lot of good things about this shop and I went there with great expectations. In fact, if I see the abilities of the shop and compare them to the others, it is a good type of second hands with a large quantity and variety of clothes, on very low prices. The pieces were seperated by genders and types of clothes, so you have to use your treasure hunting abilities, especially in the case of the ones in piles. Although, after a little effort you can find trendy and branded pieces on ridiculously low prices. For example, Mexx top for 900 HUF (4 USD), Marks&Spencer vest for 1400 HUF ( 6 USD), or skirts for 500 HUF ( 2 USD). The ones in the piles are for 200-500 HUF (1-2 USD). Plus point is that you can find an entire department for children clothes and a huge circlehanger of suit-trousers by the price of 200 HUF (1 USD)!
The changing rooms were a bit "cheap", the curtains were quite transparent, and there were no hangers so I had to put all of the clothes on a little chair. All in all, the atmosphere was a bit strange and controversial, partly because of the 90's music and the assistants who were at ease. But, of course, if you are really looking for good and cheap clothes, these factors do not really matter. The more important thing is that I found some really good and trendy pieces and there are various types for every age.
Children Edition
When people start to think about second hands and hand-me-downs, it's quite rare that baby or children stores pop up in their minds. There is a common misbelief in Hungary that second hands only offer old, out of fashion clothes with poor quality; and because of this, people don't even think about going to these shops and seeing the supply. This week I try to prove that this belief is wrong and played out by introducing some of the best second hands for children in Budapest.
Lurkó-Szerkó
This cute shop is located in the heart of the city, near to Rákóczi út.It is a little store but as soon as you enter it, you will be enchanted for sure. The walls are painted as it was a babyroom by calm yellow and green colors and little figures like duck or chicken. There is a huge variety of qualitative clothes for infants, toddlers and small children as well. The pieces are ordered by genders and sizes, you can find dozens of coats, shirts, trousers and shoes, baby-grows, and playsuits. I was quite surprised how fashionable these clothes are, the majority of them are Baby Gap, Ralph Lauren, Hello Kitty or Monsoon.
Last chance to Háda
Throughout the week, I kept hearing that Háda is the best second hand. I told my acquaintances about my blog and they began to talk about Háda. Most of them weren't even there, but they insisted on that I should go back and try it at a time, when there's no crowd around. So I chose the store in the Sugár shopping centre, which is far from the heart of the city, this way a bit calmer. I went there with the intention to create a whole new and absolutely positive opinion about this company. I didn't succeed for the second time either. But lets just start from the beginning.
Háda second hand
Location: Sugár Bevásárlóközpont Örs Vezér Square 24.
Open: M-Sat: 10:00-20:00 Sun: 10:00-18:00