Bursting with customers one afternoon the week before Christmas, a second-hand charity shop in London's Marylebone High Street looked even busier than the upscale retailers surrounding it.

One man grabbed two puzzle sets and a giant plush toy as a present for friends, another picked out a notebook for his wife.

"Since the end of September, we've seen a huge uplift in people coming to our shops and shopping pre-loved," said Ollie Mead, who oversees the shop displays -- currently glittering with Christmas decorations -- for Oxfam charity stores around London.

At the chain of second-hand stores run by the British charity, shoppers can find used, or "pre-loved", toys, books, bric-a-brac and clothes for a fraction of the price of new items.

Popular in Britain for personal shopping, charity stores and online second-hand retailers are seeing an unlikely surge in interest for Christmas gifts, a time of year often criticised for promoting consumerism and generating waste.

A report last month by second-hand retail platform Vinted and consultants RetailEconomics........

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