Cinders Pre-Loved Fashion, Algorfa: Where the shopping is safe, even if we won’t be going to the ball yet!

For five years now, Julie Mills has been running Cinders Pre-Loved Fashion, a dress agency in the heart of Algorfa. She started off in a back room in Mailpoint (now Mary Girona Dance School on Avenida Maria del Mar Rodriguez), and for the last three years has traded from the shop on the corner opposite, next to Meson Algorfa, or the Red Bar, as it’s known locally.

In case you don’t know, a dress agency is a step up from a charity shop, and the charity begins at home, in this case. You take in your good quality clothes, Julie inspects them, and if they meet her high standards, she will sell them for you on a 50/50 basis. So if that dress that’s never seen the light of day since you bought it sells for €10, you get €5 and Julie gets €5, and everyone’s happy, because your mistake is somebody else’s dream dress, and they’ve got it for a price that won’t keep them awake at night.

I’ve bought a number of things from Cinders, and I’ve been delighted with all of them, in terms of price, quality and service. Julie has a keen eye for what will suit her customers, and she has a good range of items to accessorise your new purchases as well. The shop is beautifully laid out, and it’s a pleasure to just be there, because you get a warm welcome, and there’s so much to see and appreciate. It’s a timely reminder in this challenging period that there are still a lot of good things in life.

As we all come to terms with living with Covid 19 – because it’s not going anywhere any time soon – there are lots of reasons to shop at somewhere like Cinders, rather than heading for the crowded shops in Zenia Boulevard or the Habaneras Centre. Here’s why you should head down to Cinders Pre-Loved Fashion, even if we can’t go to the ball just yet!

• It’s a safe and spacious shopping environment, and all the hygiene protocols are in place. All clothes that come into Cinders are steam cleaned before display, and steamed again after being tried on.
• It’s a local business, and we should all be supporting them at this time. The less we travel, the safer we are, and Algorfa has one of the lowest incidences of infection in Alicante province.
• You can make a bit of money by selling what you no longer wear, and you can save money on new purchases. Even if there’s nowhere to go right now, there will be soon, and there’s nothing like a shopping trip to lift your mood. At Cinders, you don’t have to stand in queues with strangers who may have come from Covid hotspots, and the store is large enough to allow for social distancing. There are even a couple of chairs outside, so that if you have to wait to enter, you can do so in comfort, in  the sun.
• Unlike on the markets, you won’t see rows and rows of the same dresses, simply because of the nature of the business. So while the prices in Cinders are on a par with the markets and Chinese bazaars, you’re getting more quality for your cash, and you won’t see dozens of people wearing the same dress or jacket.

If you live in Algorfa or any of the surrounding urbanisations, you are no more than 10 minutes’ drive from this fabulous shop, yet it’s surprising how many locals don’t even realise it’s there. So tell your friends on La Finca, Montemar, Lo Crispin and Montebello to get down to Cinders and take a look. And yes, there is a glass slipper there, although Prince Charming is already taken!

Opening hours: Monday – Saturday, 10.00 am – 2.00 pm

Telephone: 627 19 13 13

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Cinders-Pre-loved-Fashion-1895992933745210