Herman Brown

This remains one of Edinburgh’s best spots for secondhand clothes - there’s an abundance of excellent charity shops in town, but for uncluttered, reasonably priced, hand-picked vintage shoes, jewellery and clothes, Herman Brown (and especially HB Electronics’ rail of 80s and 90s-era gems) is a true treasure trove.
151 West Port.

Real Foods

Student life doesn’t have to mean living off Tesco Value beans on toast if you don’t want to. Real Foods has two Edinburgh branches and they do a 5% student discount, so you can shop for all the Fairtrade, organic beans and gluten free, wholemeal bread your heart desires. They’ve also got vegan goodies, ethical beauty supplies and cleaning materials.
37 Broughton Street and 8 Brougham Street.

Oxfam Music

Trawl tapes, records, sheet music, CDs and DVDs on the cheap in this music-only branch of Oxfam in charity-shop-laden Stockbridge. The stock generally veers towards the mainstream, but it’s good for picking up classics, and sniffing out occasional rare gems. The volunteer staff are normally only too happy to geek out if you need more info, and there are headphones for listening before you buy.
64 Raeburn Place.