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The news from the British Heart Foundation that they are closing 150 stores has unleashed a wave of opinion pieces across LinkedIn and beyond.

Headlines have declared that charity retail is dying, that the model is broken – and anecdotal stories of “I went into my local shop and it was too expensive, so no wonder they’re closing” are abound.

Here we take a more measured look at the state of charity retail – supported by data provided by the Charity Retail Association’s comprehensive research programme, which we proudly sponsor.

So what’s really happening in charity retail now?

Image: Yan Krukau on Pexels

Data is from the latest Quarterly Market Survey (Jan-March ’26)

Sample size: 47 charities representing 3,032 shops. That’s around a third of all UK charity shops

Income

• Total retail income fell slightly by 2.6% year-on-year when compared to January-March 2025. This was driven by an 8.7% decrease across 3 charities who each run over 300 shops.
• The research breaks down charity retail operations by size: 1-10 shops, 11-20 shops, 21-100 shops, 101-300 shops and 300 plus. All the other segments saw income growth between 2.1% and 3.6% on the same period last year.
• Previous surveys also recorded increases in income – in fact sales have risen continually since COVID.
• Like-for-like in-store income is rising: 1.9% higher in January-March 2026 compared to the same period in 2025 – with up to 4.2% for those will 11-20 shops. This excludes ecommerce, so we see that bricks and mortar retail is still finding growth.
• Customers are spending more in-store. The average transaction value in charity shops rose by 3.8% to £7.27 against the previous year – and this despite the quality of donated goods (and so too the achievable price for those goods) falling
• Online sales saw significant growth of 7.2%, mainly driven by larger charities who often have very well established online operations

 Costs

• Whilst the data doesn’t cover costs for individual charities, we’ve all felt the pain of the cost of living crisis over the past few years. We know that the increase in National Living Wage has meant that many part time staff not previously subject to NI now fall into that category. The additional cost of the higher rate plus the increase in the National Living Wage – something entirely embraced by the sector as it recognises the need to pay a fair wage – means that staff costs, along with increasing fuel and other costs have contributed to a fall in profits.

Estates

• The number of shops is falling, with charities in the sample operating 106 fewer stores compared to March 2025. This represents a 3.4% decrease.
• However – we know that many charities are moving to larger format stores, meaning that in some cases, a charity may close 2 or 3 smaller stores and replace them with one superstore. This may not result in a decrease in square footage – in fact in some cases it can be the opposite. So what might look like retraction on the surface can actually be a strategic focus on a different type of growth.
• Of course the BHF story – and the similar tales from CRUK and Scope – tells us something about profitability. These charities may have been running some shops with marginal or lower profit levels, and the increase in staffing and running costs have tipped them to become no longer viable to run. With large estates such as those operated by the national charities, it’s inevitable that there’s a range of performance – and some stores sadly won’t make it. Taking a strategic and thoughtful approach to balancing profitability, social value, community engagement and profile is the correct way to ensure the charities’ funds are invested wisely, to create the best possible outcome for the beneficiaries.
• It’s worth noting too, that smaller chains are still performing well in the main – the ability to be flexible and innovative certainly helps, along with an often local cause that the community wants to get behind.

Image: Yorkshire Cancer Research superstore, York

Stock

• The quality of donated goods coming into charity shops has been on a downward trajectory for some time. That’s not to say there isn’t good quality product about – far from it – but currently many charity shop teams have to work harder to find the same value from the donations they receive.
• The CRA research shows that donation volumes are strong, but quality has been poor: 35% of respondents reported that the volume of donations had a positive impact on income, while 42% of respondents reported that the quality of donations had a negative impact on income.
• Without a doubt, peer to peer selling such as Vinted is having an impact on the charity retail sector. It’s easier than ever to monetise the things you no longer want, so some products that might have previously come over the charity shop threshold are now being listed online privately. When ebay first appeared, the sector was afraid that it might disrupt the supply chain – however charity retailers are flexible and innovative folk, so they joined the platform, ebay embraced this new and important customer base and has continually provided active support to charity sellers in a range of ways. Our hope is that Vinted and other commercial resellers do the same – after all values are important to a wide range of shoppers, so doing the right – or wrong – thing can influence where people put their money.

Image: By Kampus Production on Pexels

Speaking of Values….

Some research we commissioned for a client recently showed strong support for ethical retailers.

From a random shopper panel of 1002 people, we found:

• Around one in five shoppers are in a core ethically-minded base
• Younger audiences prioritise sustainability, ethical buying and particularly brands that support good causes
• There’s a consistent trend among Gen Y/Z and young families over-indexing in their attitudes and behaviours to ethical buying and charities ​

Charity retailers have in their arsenal plenty of stories that speak to these shoppers:

• Diverting waste from landfill – since charity shops have existed, they have supported a circular economy. There’s no really recent data on this, but even as far back as 2018/19, charity retailers kept 339,000 tonnes of textiles alone out of landfill or incineration 
• Raising money to support their causes – in 2024/25, charity shops raised over £300 million profit. This goes directly to helping a huge range of causes, from health conditions to homelessness, domestic abuse support to animal welfare, and so much more. We’ve all heard about how hospices have struggled to maintain their services as statutory funding has failed to keep up with increasing costs – imagine how many more services might be negatively impacted without the income that hospice charity shops bring in each week
• The Charity Retail Association created a tool to measure the social value of charity shops – taking into account not just the cash in the till, but all the other positive impacts a charity shop can bring to its community. You can read more about it here. In 2022, the social value of charity shops was a staggering £75.3 billion
• Charity shops can be community hubs where people come together and work, volunteer, learn new skills, shop affordably, feel welcome and safe. Some have community larders to redistribute food that would otherwise go to waste, some offer the chance to repair or repurpose goods, many hold events that help combat loneliness and bring communities together. This recent video from Oxfam is a fantastic example

So by leaning into the values and stories found in their shops, charities are able to meet the needs of a growing consumer base – and attracting younger people and their families to become life long shoppers, donors and supporters.

Image: VInspired

So what does all this mean?

Charity retail is ever evolving. There still exists huge opportunities for growth in net profit and the resilient, bright, innovative people working in the sector are finding ways to maximise those opportunities for their beneficiaries.

Some examples are:

• The move to larger format stores, offering a wide range of donated – and sometimes bought in – products that create a one-stop-shop for customers. Often we see the charity’s services promoted in these stores too, bringing those benefits to the local community;
• Specialist stores focusing on particular products, such as books, music, kids wear, bridal – or on particular audiences, such as Gen Z shoppers;
• Using technology to create efficiencies, like AI for listing products online or bypassing the need to spend hours researching products;
• Embracing their local community – building mutuality in the relationship between the shop and those who donate, buy, volunteer or work there;
• Upcycling and repurposing products to ensure an even longer life

What’s next?

It’s important to be realistic – these are tough times indeed – but to think that charity retail has no future, or that the only way out of the fug is to price everything so low that you’re practically giving goods away is short-sighted. It also underestimates the strength and resilience of the charity retail sector as a whole.

We’ve faced tough times before – and not only has the sector survived, we’ve thrived. Charity retail staff and volunteers are incredible people, and every charity is different. At the Consultancy we work with clients of all sizes, and we always find ways together to help grow and improve the contribution from their charity retail operations.  So to assume because a national charity is closing 150 shops, that the sector is in terminal decline is completely wrong.

There’s still so much more yet to come.

The Charity Retail Consultancy works with charities of all sizes to support them with any element of their trading operations

Established in 2010, we are made up exclusively of experienced charity retailers who’ve led chains of all types and sizes.  Between us, we’ve over 100 years of experience working in and managing charity retail operations, and we pride ourselves on keeping our finger on the pulse, so we know what’s happening right now – as well as what’s gone before.

If you need help with your charity retail operation, reach out for a no-obligation chat. We’re always here, right by your side.

Get in touch:

Call Vicki on 07985 574904 or Jayne on 07598 243210

email us on hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk

www.thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk

www.charityretaillearning.com

Check out our podcast – The Charity Shop Chat – lots of inspiring conversations and practical insights from people who know charity retail best.