There’s been a lot of chat online and in the mainstream media lately about charity shops. Some if it has been pretty unpleasant, with accusations of overpricing, poor quality stock and bad customer service.
We working in the sector know that in the main, that just isn’t true. And we also know how fast stories spread nowadays – and that keyboard warriors sometimes can’t wait to stick the boot in.
So what do we do about it?
There are lots of things we need to do as a sector to help protect our space in the pre-loved market. These will include working collectively to shout louder about our values, our contribution and the social impact we have. But we can all take steps now to talk about the amazing things charity shops do – and how they simply make the world a better place.
At Charity Retail Learning, we have a suite of courses that can help you make a start with that. Whether you want to improve your marketing in-store to help connect the shop with your cause, or if you want to take to social media to run impactful campaigns, we’ve got you covered.
As always, each course can also be purchased as a one-off, starting at just £38 plus VAT per head. And of course CRA members get 10% off all our products – including subscriptions.
So what are you wating for? Let’s all get out there and tell the world just how brilliant we are!
“One of my managers doesn’t know how to support a team member.”
“I don’t want to say the wrong thing.”
“How do I make our shops welcoming for everyone?”
“We’re updating our EDI strategy.”
“Could we be losing brilliant volunteers because we don’t understand neurodiversity?”
Every charity retailer works with neurodivergent colleagues, volunteers, donors and customers – yet most retail leaders haven’t received charity retail-specific training on how to support them. We want that to change.
We’ve joined with The Donaldson Trust to create a unique charity retail-focused webinar, bringing together retailers from charities across the UK.
Our Introduction to Neurodiversity for charity retailers session provides a practical and engaging overview of neurodiversity. Designed to build understanding, challenge common misconceptions, and increase confidence, this session explores what neurodiversity is and how small changes can make a significant difference.
Around 1 in 7 people are thought to be neurodivergent.
That means every charity retail organisation is already supporting neurodivergent colleagues, volunteers and customers – whether they realise it or not.
To make sure you’re offering the best experience for all your staff, volunteers, donors and customers, join us on our webinar at 10am on September 17th.
Leadership teams spend a lot of time discussing strategy, budgets and performance. What often gets pushed down the priority list is taking time to think about how they work together.
That was the focus of a recent MBTI workshop delivered for the senior leadership team at Age UK Wyvern. The team wanted to gain a better understanding of one another, recognising that everyone brings different strengths, preferences and ways of approaching work. By exploring those differences, the aim was to strengthen collaboration, improve communication and build an even more effective leadership team.
What is MBTI?
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the world’s most widely used personality development tools. Based on the work of psychologist Carl Jung, it explores four aspects of personality:
Where people get their energy.
How they gather information.
How they make decisions.
How they approach work and everyday life.
These preferences combine to create a four-letter personality type that provides insight into how people naturally communicate, solve problems and interact with others.
There isn’t a “best” personality type, and MBTI isn’t about putting people into boxes. It’s a development tool that helps people understand themselves while gaining a greater appreciation of different ways of thinking and working.
Our consultant, Charlotte Greenwood has been a qualified MBTI practitioner for more than eight years, delivering workshops for charity leadership teams, retail managers and colleagues across the sector.
Why is MBTI relevant in charity retail?
Charity retail is built on people. Retail leaders work with colleagues, volunteers, trustees, donors and customers every day. Strong technical knowledge is important, but understanding how people think, communicate and respond to different situations can make a big difference to the way teams work together.
Investing in leadership development can sometimes feel difficult when budgets are under pressure. Yet the way a leadership team communicates influences almost every part of an organisation. Better understanding can lead to stronger relationships, clearer decision making and a more positive culture.
Why Age UK Wyvern chose MBTI
Like many leadership teams, Age UK Wyvern already worked closely together. The workshop created an opportunity to step away from day-to-day operations and explore how individual personality preferences influence communication, leadership and decision making.
Rather than trying to change personalities, the focus was on recognising how different approaches complement one another. It encouraged the team to reflect on how they communicate, where misunderstandings can arise and how they could make the most of each person’s strengths.
What happened during the workshop?
The workshop combined short presentations with practical exercises, discussion and interactive activities.
Throughout the day, the team explored how personality preferences influence everyday situations at work, from communication and decision making to giving feedback and responding to pressure. The activities encouraged honest discussion, helping participants recognise why colleagues can approach the same situation in very different ways.
There were plenty of opportunities to reflect, challenge assumptions and share experiences, along with a few lighter moments like comparing their MBTI types to celebrities and breeds of dogs!
By the end of the session, the team had identified practical ideas they could start using straight away, along with a better understanding of how their different personalities can strengthen the way they work together.
Taking the learning away
Before attending the workshop, each participant completed the official MBTI questionnaire. Following the session, everyone received a personalised 24-page Personal Impact Report. The report explores communication preferences, decision-making style, leadership strengths and opportunities for development, giving participants a practical resource they can continue using long after the workshop had finished.
Feedback from Age UK Wyvern
Creating space for those meaningful conversations is often where the greatest value lies. When people understand why colleagues approach situations differently, they’re better equipped to communicate, support one another and work more effectively as a team.
Could MBTI benefit your charity?
Whether you’re developing a senior leadership team, supporting retail managers or investing in staff development, MBTI provides a practical framework that helps people understand themselves and those around them.
Every workshop is tailored to the organisation’s objectives, ensuring the learning is relevant to the challenges teams face every day.
If your charity is looking to strengthen communication, improve collaboration or invest in leadership development, we’d love to discuss how an MBTI workshop could support your team.
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 storesfocusing 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
On June 1st, we’re launching our 5th AnnualPride Display Competition. We invite charity retailers across the world to create and share fabulous displays, celebrating Pride and showing support for their LGBTQ+ communities.
In recent months and years, we’ve seen LGBTQ+ rights beginning to be eroded, with homophobic and transphobic abuse on the increase. Pride has always been a protest as well as a celebration, and as we belong to a sector that includes lots of members of the LGBTQ+ community, we believe in standing together and showing our support.
Once again, we’re providing some background information and resources to help you and your teams understand the significance of Pride, and to stay safe during the Pride season:
The webinar recording has lots of great hints and tips on how to create an inclusive and welcoming space for everyone, all year round, and the EDI course is a brilliant introduction to the subject, suitable for all retail team members. We also have lots of Visual Merchandising content on our site that you might find helpful
Send your pics of your Pride displays – windows, in store, pop up or online – to hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk by the 19th of July. We’ll share your entries throughout the competition period on our YouTube channel and socials, and the winners will be announced shortly afterwards.
Staying safe
Sadly, there have been a small number of incidents where shops with Pride displays have been targeted by homophobic abuse, including vandalism and spraying over window displays.
Whilst these incidents are few and far between, your safety is the most important consideration. If you’re worried about any aspect of your or your team’s safety during Pride month, please do speak to your line manager, or check out any LGBTQ+ support groups you might have within your organisation, or in your local area.
More about Pride
LGBTQ+ Pride began as a response to discrimination and police harassment.
On 28 June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn – a gay bar in New York City.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community resisted the raid, leading to the Stonewall Uprising.
The uprising became a major turning point in the modern gay rights movement.
In 1970, the first Pride marches took place in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago to mark the anniversary of Stonewall.
Early Pride events focused on visibility, protest, and equal rights during a time when homosexuality was heavily stigmatised and often illegal.
Over time, Pride grew into a global movement representing a broader range of LGBTQ+ identities.
Pride became both a celebration of progress and a remembrance of those lost to HIV/AIDS, hate crimes, and discrimination.
Today, Pride includes parades, activism, performances, and community events around the world.
The core message of Pride remains equality, dignity, resilience, and love.
Stonewall has some great resources to help you understand more about LGBTQ+ issues and lives:
Charity Retail Learning provides online & face to face training developed by charity retailers, for charity retailers. We work in partnership with the Charity Retail Association to deliver training to their members and beyond.
Creating an inclusive, respectful environment is essential in charity retail, for the people who walk through our doors and for the staff and volunteers who make shops thrive. Yet many teams tell us they’re unsure how to approach conversations about EDI, or how to respond when something doesn’t feel right.
Whether it’s navigating unintentional bias, supporting volunteers from different backgrounds, or stepping in when a comment doesn’t sit right, these moments can feel daunting without the right tools.
Why EDI Matters
Charity shops are community spaces bringing together people of all backgrounds and identities. That has always been one of our sector’s greatest strengths and the sector thrives when everyone can feel safe.
Organisations have a legal responsibility to prevent discrimination, harassment, and victimisation across protected characteristics. For shop teams that means understanding what inclusive behaviour looks like day-to-day and knowing how to act when something crosses the line.
Equity Can’t Wait
Avoiding these conversations can allow issues to grow. Addressing them early and with confidence helps to create a culture where everyone feels valued. EDI is good for business, and EDI is everyone’s business.
Our Equity, Diversity & Inclusion 30-minute click‑through course has been designed specifically for charity retail. The course is suitable for staff and volunteers at all levels, including Managers, Team Leads and Trustees who want to strengthen their understanding and practice of inclusion. No prior EDI training is required.
What the course explores
Have a good foundation of knowledge and awareness of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
Understand why EDI is important
Understand how EDI may relate to the work you do
Be more aware of your own and others’ unconscious bias
Understand the role of active allyship
To learn more, check out the full course page and sign up now. If you want to strengthen your team culture and ensure your shops are welcoming to everyone, this course is a great place to start.
Already a CRL Subscriber? All new and future online courses are already available as part of your yearly package! Sign-in and start the course straight away at no extra cost.
For more information on Charity Retail Learning subscriptions and courses, click here
In many charities, Fundraising and Retail are the twin engines that power income generation – but too often, they’re flying in different directions. Fundraisers chase donations. Retail teams chase sales. Both work tirelessly for the same cause yet sometimes feel like they’re on separate missions.
At recent Charity Retail Association hospice meetings, one question kept coming up:
“How do we stop working against each other and start working as one income generation team?”
It’s a question worth asking, and answering. Because when Fundraising and Retail join forces, the results go far beyond higher income. You get stronger teams, richer community engagement, and a shared sense of pride in every pound raised.
The “Poorer Cousin” Problem
Charlotte Greenwood, former Head of Retail & Marketing at Isabel Hospice and now Consultant with The Charity Retail Consultancy, describes Retail as often being treated as Fundraising’s “poorer cousin.”
Many Directors of Income Generation come from fundraising backgrounds, which can unintentionally lead to an imbalance in how priorities are set. But Charlotte believes this view overlooks the commercial acumen and values-led leadership that retail teams bring.
“Retailers are commercially driven, but they’re also deeply mission-focused,” she explains. “When you combine that commercial mindset with the heart of fundraising, the results can be transformative.”
At Isabel Hospice, Charlotte and her Head of Fundraising made a conscious effort to align their approaches. They found that using Retail as the “foot in the door” often opened new opportunities for wider engagement. With the cost of living crisis followed by rising minimum wage and national insurance costs, many organisations simply don’t have the cash to make generous donations anymore, leaving Fundraising teams in a difficult predicament.
“Enter Retail,” says Charlotte. “By asking for stock donations rather than cold hard cash, it becomes a much easier ask. Once you’ve established that foothold with a corporate partner, you can use storytelling about your charity’s mission to pull on the heartstrings and open the door to further support, whether that’s payroll giving, event challenges, or more traditional donations.”
When Retail and Fundraising collaborate, both sides benefit and ultimately, so does the charity. It’s about recognising that both are part of the same story: generating income and goodwill to fund vital care.
Breaking Down Myths
For Michelle Nicholls, Director of Income Generation at Saint Francis Hospice, successful collaboration starts with tackling long-held myths about how each side works.
“I was told that Fundraising can’t be commercial. Not true at all! We all know how hard it is just to get a fiver. Sharing the load has helped each area see that the outcome is the same.”
To embed this culture, Michelle created an Income Senior Leadership Team that brings together her Heads of Fundraising and Retail.
“Each Head gets to swim in the other’s pool,” she says. “It’s a collaborative way of working where everyone understands the full picture – figures, people, and priorities.”
This shift has broken down barriers and created a culture where both functions share accountability and celebrate each other’s success. It’s no longer about where income comes from – it’s about the difference that income makes.
Collaboration in Practice
When Ross Henderson joined Nottinghamshire Hospice as Director of Income Generation & Digital, his mission was clear: unite Fundraising and Retail under one vision. He discovered that achieving this required not just process changes, but cultural ones. Ross highlights three key principles that helped bridge the divide:
Income belongs to the organisation, not the individual
“The income is owned by the organisation, not by the individual income generator.”
That statement reshaped how Nottinghamshire Hospice teams viewed their roles. Whether income came from a donation, an event, or a shop sale, it all contributed to the same goal; supporting patient care. One corporate partnership, nurtured by the fundraising team, led to £52,000 in retail income. Rather than claiming departmental credit, both teams celebrated it as a shared success.
Collaboration at every level
Real integration doesn’t happen just in boardrooms. It grows from everyday interactions.
Ross encouraged operational staff to connect. Fundraisers spending time in shops, retail managers attending fundraising meetings, and teams working on shared projects.
“When shop staff now ask for a £1 donation,” Ross says, “they’re not asking for the Fundraising team – they’re asking for Becky, the Community Fundraiser they met who brought good biscuits to the meeting.”
These small, human connections break down professional walls. Relationships build understanding. Understanding builds trust. And trust builds income.
Equal footing and visibility
Giving retail an equal voice in income generation discussions is transformative. At Nottinghamshire Hospice, Ross made it a rule that the Retail Operations Manager and Area Manager attend all fundraising meetings. Even when 70% of the people in the room are fundraisers, retail gets equal time and importance.
The result? Shared language, shared priorities, and a genuine sense of team identity.
One Team, One Mission
Charlotte, Ross, and Michelle’s experiences show that collaboration isn’t about meetings or slogans. It’s about leadership, empathy, and a shared commitment to impact.
When leaders focus on collective success instead of departmental competition, they release the real potential of their income generation teams.
Because ultimately, the public doesn’t see two departments. They see one charity, one cause, and one brand.
When Fundraising and Retail align, share goals, and support each other, the impact multiplies. It stops being about “my income” or “your shop” — and starts being about our mission.
From Silos to Synergy: How We Help You Build One Team
At The Charity Retail Consultancy, we specialise in helping organisations turn collaboration into action. We can work with your charity to bring Fundraising and Retail teams together through a tailored strategy, roadmap, or facilitated workshop designed to build a genuine “one team” approach.
Using tools like Myers Briggs (MBTI) profiling and our Internal Engagement course, we help teams understand each other’s strengths, improve communication, and create a shared vision for income generation. The result is a united, motivated team working together with clarity, confidence, and a common purpose.
Ready to start your one-team journey? We’d love to help you make it happen.
Charity Retail Learning provides online & face to face training developed by charity retailers, for charity retailers. We work in partnership with the Charity Retail Association to deliver training to their members and beyond.
Managing difficult conversations & behaviours can feel like a regular challenge in charity retail.
Facing an unhappy customer, addressing poor performance with a team member or even calming down someone who is being rude and abusive on your shop floor can all feel overwhelming sometimes.
Customer abuse
The annual Retail Crime Survey is produced by the British Retail Consortium, encompassing all types of retail. The 2025 survey states:
“Violence and abuse rose over 50% in the past year and 340% since 2020, at which time there were around 455 incidents per day. We are now at over 2,000 incidents every single day, which is the highest rate ever recorded in our crime survey.”
Sadly, charity retail is no exception – we know that teams across the country are being faced with challenging behaviour every day, so it’s essential they have the skills to navigate these situations to create a positive outcome for all.
Managing team behaviour
Of course, challenging behaviour doesn’t always come from outside of our organisations. Staff and volunteers can sometimes behave in ways that mean work is disrupted, people are upset or policies are ignored.
For those working on the shop floor and managing a large, mainly part time team, this can be a huge challenge: finding a quiet space to have a chat; having time to address issues when volunteer numbers are down whilst juggling multiple tasks; knowing what to say and how to say it – can all be tough.
Action is essential
Whether faced with a quarrel or complaint on the shop floor, or an issue with a team member’s behaviour, the best thing we can do is deal with it as soon as possible. Things that are left to fester only get worse – so we need to know the best ways to manage these situations well.
Fear holds many people back from doing this – but with the right tools and knowledge, it needn’t be a scary situation.
It covers a whole range of scenarios and considerations for de-escalating situations and communicating well. Some of these are:
Plan – prepare well for any difficult conversation you may have to have, if you can.
Practice – it’s a great idea to run through what you want to say, to get used to how that feels and sounds when said aloud
Place – where is the conversation going to take place? Can it be in a private space, where you won’t be interrupted? If it has to be on the shop floor, what’s the best way to do that?
Body language – how you say something can have more impact than the actual words you use. Think about eye contact, having an open stance and the tone of voice you use.
Check understanding – it’s good to check at the end of a conversation that everyone involved has the same understanding of what’s been said and agreed.
To hear more about these techniques, and other areas to consider, check out our brand new click through course. As always, we’ve designed it with charity retail at its heart, so you can be sure it will be accessible and relevant to everyone in your team
For more information on Charity Retail Learning subscriptions and courses, click here
Charity retail does not have a stock problem. If anything, it has the opposite.
Across the sector, donation volumes continue to rise rapidly, but the quality of stock is becoming more inconsistent – more items, but not always more value. Despite that volume, a significant proportion of potential income is still being lost, not because it isn’t there, but because the systems, space and structure are not in place to deal with it effectively.
That is what makes Keech Hospice’s new Distribution Centre and Homeware shop in Finway, Luton so interesting. At just under 12,000 square feet and representing an investment of around £300k, it is a serious commitment to infrastructure to support the £6.5 million income generated by their 38 shops. As Angela Burgess, Associate Director of Trading and Commercial, explains:
“This move is about more than logistics; it is about impact. The new centre gives us the space, tools and flexibility to grow our retail operations and generate even more vital income to fund our care.”
That ambition from Keech Hospice is clear. It is also a useful lens through which we explore a question many charities are quietly grappling with.
Are large distribution centres part of the solution, or do they risk becoming expensive storage spaces that mask deeper operational challenges?
The reality is that many charity warehouses drift into being places where stock waits rather than moves. Items come in, are sorted, and then sit. Over time, the issue is no longer about generating donations but about maintaining momentum. More space can actually reduce urgency, creating the sense that there is always time to deal with it later.
What stands out at Keech is that this does not feel like a storage model. It feels like a throughput model. The intention is clearly to keep stock moving, to make decisions quickly and to ensure that value is realised rather than delayed.
Nowhere is that more evident than in their E Commerce operation. The dedicated 2,000 sq ft mezzanine space for eBay, more than double what they had previously, isn’t simply an expansion. It reflects a shift in how seriously online sales are being treated. With around 1,600 items listed each week and income sitting between £4,000 and £4,500, there is already a strong foundation in place. The ambition to move towards 2,500 items and £5,000 to £6,000 per week shows a clear understanding of what scale could look like, and the fact they have already reached almost £10,000 in a single week demonstrates what is possible when high value stock is processed well (in this particular week, it was strong donations of jewellery that drove the income).
What makes this credible is not just the space, but the structure behind it. Dedicated roles, volunteer support, clear daily listing expectations and a defined stock pathway, where items over £20 are routed centrally, all contribute to a system that is designed to generate income consistently rather than occasionally.
It also highlights a wider truth for the sector. E Commerce can sometimes be limited by technology but more often, it is constrained by process, confidence and capacity. When those elements are addressed, performance follows.
That same principle applies on the shop floor. One of the simplest yet most effective things Keech are doing is rethinking how bric a brac is visually merchandised. Through colour blocking, items that might previously have felt low value or miscellaneous are given structure and visual impact. Grouping by colour creates cohesion, encourages browsing and often leads to higher spend. It is a small shift in approach, but one that changes how customers perceive value.
Alongside this, the space has clearly been designed with people in mind. There are dedicated volunteer areas, flexible working environments and a meeting room that can accommodate up to 18 people. Importantly, there is also an intention to use that space with corporate partners, reflecting a broader trend across the sector. More charities are looking at how their assets can serve multiple purposes, whether that is generating additional income through room hire or building stronger relationships with local businesses.
What is particularly encouraging is that the space is not just designed well, it is being used with intent. Areas within the distribution centre are already being prepared for regular events, including an upcoming large toy sale. This keeps stock moving, creates urgency and brings customers into the space in a different way. It reinforces a critical point. The value of a distribution centre is not in how much it can hold, but in how effectively it can move stock through the system.
This raises another important question. How much of the space charities already have is being fully utilised? It is not uncommon to see rooms that sit empty for large parts of the week, or buildings that serve a single function when they could be doing more. Keech’s approach suggests a more integrated way of thinking, where space supports people, operations and income generation simultaneously.
So, are large distribution centres the answer?
The honest answer is that they can be, but only when they are part of a wider, well considered operating model. Without clear processes, accountability and a focus on pace, they risk becoming a drain on cost rather than a driver of income. However, with the right objectives and structure in place, they can significantly improve stock flow, improve E Commerce and instore sales growth, and create a more consistent retail operation.
What Keech Hospice have created is not just a larger facility. It is a more intentional one. It reflects a growing confidence within charity retail to invest in the infrastructure needed to support scale, while also recognising that space alone is not enough.
For the sector as a whole, the challenge isn’t about generating more donations. It’s about making better use of the ones already being received. That requires a shift in thinking, away from volume and towards flow, away from storage and towards movement, and away from reactive decisions and towards structured systems.
At The Charity Retail Consultancy, these are the conversations we are increasingly having with organisations. Whether it is reviewing how stock moves through the business, developing E Commerce strategies that can genuinely scale, or supporting teams to strengthen visual merchandising so that products achieve their full potential, the focus is always on improving performance through practical, sustainable change.
If this has sparked a few questions, or even a bit of discomfort about whether your current model is really making the most of what you receive, we would love to talk. You can get in touch via LinkedIn, email us at hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk or visit our website to find out more about how we can support you.
If you enjoy exploring these kinds of conversations, you can also listen to more insights and sector stories on The Charity Shop Chat podcast, where we speak to the people shaping the future of charity retail (follow us on Instagram).
Finally, a thank you to Keech Hospice for inviting us to attend the opening of their new Distribution Centre and Homeware shop, and for sharing their approach so openly.
For all charity retailers, the opportunity is already there. The question is whether your operation is set up to realise it.
Charity Retail Learning provides online & face to face training developed by charity retailers, for charity retailers. We work in partnership with the Charity Retail Association to deliver training to their members and beyond.
Work in charity retail? Then you probably wear 1,000 hats. On your to do list are shop visits, board papers, risk assessments, staffing challenges, listings on eBay and Vinted – and that’s just today. By the time that brilliant article lands in your inbox or that webinar invite pops up, you simply don’t have the headspace.
That reality felt very familiar to Ross Henderson, Director of Income Generation & Digital at Nottinghamshire Hospice. During a Zoom call with The Charity Retail Consultancy, he said something simple but powerful: Start a podcast. A way for busy charity retailers to learn on the go, on the commute, between shop visits, while steaming stock in the back room, while listing online.
So we did…
The Vision
Charity Shop Chat was created to celebrate the sector properly. Not as a side note to fundraising. Not as an afterthought to strategy. But as a powerful, mission driven income engine in its own right.
We wanted to spotlight the unsung heroes of charity retail. The shop managers who know every regular by name. The volunteers who wash and mend donated clothing at home. The team members counting puzzle pieces at 9pm. The eBay listers researching the weird and wonderful to get the description just right.
Retail is not secondary, it’s strategic – and in a climate where unrestricted income matters more than ever, that conversation cannot stay in the background any longer.
From Idea to Launch
It took five months of planning, countless road trips across the UK and plenty of trial and error. We recorded in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds and Swansea and heard an incredible array of voices.
The hosts? The Charity Retail Consultancy’s very own Charlotte Greenwood and Mimi Cartwright. Charlotte is a charity retail leader, consultant and advocate for purpose led retail. With over 20 years of experience across commercial and charity sectors, she champions the balance of mission and margin, helping charities maximise income while staying rooted in social impact. She is also an Equity Diversity and Inclusion advocate committed to raising allyship across the sector.
Mimi brings fresh energy and next generation perspective to the podcast. Passionate about sustainability, social justice and community, she represents the evolving face of charity retail having both volunteered and worked in charity shops, including the Choose Love shop on London’s famous Regent Street. Her curiosity and inclusive storytelling ensure Charity Shop Chat feels modern and connected to emerging audiences.
That energy set the tone from day one. When we launched in February, we wanted our very first guest to reflect that forward-thinking approach. BeckysBazaar, who some may recognise from Channel 4’s Can You Make £10k in 10 Days? with Scarlett Moffatt, shared why charity shops must embrace social media to stay relevant, how pricing feels from a shopper’s perspective, and the emergence of WhatNot as an online selling tool.
More Episodes Every Wednesday
We already have three full episodes available now with even more incredible episodes on the way. Natasha Morosini from St George’s Crypt opens up about their partnership with HMP New Hall to upcycle furniture, creating second chances for both products and people. Daniel Franzmann from Fight for Sight highlights how Instagram can be used to grow volunteers. Steph Edusei talks about why Heads of Retail can be overlooked for Director of Income Generation roles, and shop managers Nicola Dodge and Roxanne Randel from St Raphael’s Hospice talk about why hospice shops are so beloved in the community. And that’s not even the final list – we’re only just getting started!
Why It Matters
Charity Shop Chat is shining the spotlight on why charity retail is more than just racks and rails. It’s the circular economy in action. It’s local community hubs. It’s skills development, volunteering, sustainability and vital unrestricted income. And in a climate where funding is tight and expectations are high, retail is not optional. It is essential.
We wanted to give charity retailers the microphone – to challenge assumptions, raise standards, share practical tools, inspire ideas. If you care about the future of charity retail, this is your space.
Listen 24/7 with new episodes dropping every Wednesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. Share with your thrifty friends, colleagues and supporters, and leave us a review. And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @charityshopchat
Because charity shops are full of stories that deserve to be told and we love sharing them with you.
About The Charity Retail Consultancy
Behind the microphone sits the wider work of The Charity Retail Consultancy, a specialist advisory service supporting charities to grow, strengthen and futureproof their retail operations. From retail strategy and trading board development to digital growth, Gift Aid optimisation, mystery shopping and leadership coaching, the consultancy works alongside charity teams to balance mission and margin and unlock sustainable unrestricted income.
Alongside this, Charity Retail Learning provides accessible online training and practical resources designed specifically for charity retail teams. Charity Shop Chat is a natural extension of that work, sharing insight, raising standards and creating space for sector wide learning.
Charity Retail Learning provides online & face to face training developed by charity retailers, for charity retailers. We work in partnership with the Charity Retail Association to deliver training to their members and beyond.
