Each week we share with you our pick of the best stories on charity retail, shopping secondhand and the circular economy from the UK, Ireland and around the world.
We also add links to relevant Charity Retail Learning courses associated with each article to help you implement some of the ideas we’re sharing
Here’s our pick from the past 7 days
Happy new year!
Welcome to our first round up of 2023 – we’re looking forward to sharing lots of charity retail news and ideas with you over the next 12 months
Charity Retail Awards
We’re excited to be going to the long-awaited Charity Retail Awards this month in Birmingham and hope to see lots of you there. Celebrating the fantastic achievements of our wonderful sector is always a highlight for us – and although the ceremony was delayed from last year, we can’t think of a better way to start 2023.
Most unusual donation?
This is an entertaining category in the awards each year – and this BBC article featuring Ty Hafan, Tenovus Cancer Care, Hope House Children’s Hospices and British Red Cross highlights some of the wackiest donations they’ve seen lately.
Charity shops: Sex toys and ashes among more bizarre donations | BBC News
Changes in the law might bring extra costs for furniture charity retailers
Make sure you keep up to date with the changes that are happening around disposal of upholstered goods. As always, the Charity Retail Association is doing a great job advocating for the sector – and will be keeping members up to date on their progress. If you aren’t a member now, make sure you join to get all the benefits of membership
Charities fear 200% disposal cost increases due to POPs rules | Lets Recycle
Good news all round
Three stories from Oxfam, Scope and Sense highlighting their retail growth last year, showing how important trading income is to these nationals
Oxfam benefits from surge in Christmas sales | The Retail Bulletin
‘Surge of support’ helps Scope’s charity shop income soar | Third Sector
Trading boost pushes Sense’s income to four-year high | Civil Society
Love Island x ebay is back!
Ebay have announced that once again they will be partnering with Love Island to help promote sustainable and preloved fashion. There were lots of great examples from charity retailers large and small last year of how to use this high profile partnership to boost local sales – so make sure you build this into your marketing and promotional calendar
Recommended:
Marketing Essentials for Charity Retail | Charity Retail Learning
Pressure on Australian charities around dumped donations
Australian charity retail giant, Vinnie’s and our friends at Charitable Recycling Australia highlight the challenges created by donors dumping donations rather than bringing them to shops when they are open
Recommended:
Right stock, right shop – how to effectively stock your shops | Charity Retail Learning
And a great article here highlighting Vinnie’s expansion plans in New South Wales – their new Sydney store looks fantastic!
More About Us
The Charity Retail Consultancy helps charity retailers and other non-profits (including museums and galleries) develop their retail operation, improve their product offer and people, and improve their profitability.
The 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 Charity Retail Learning to their members and beyond.
The Charity Retail Coach offers a first class executive coaching service via our Associate, Dan O’Driscoll.
To find out more or to speak to us about how we can help you, please get in touch:
hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
Jayne – 07598 243210
Vicki – 07985 574904
Follow us on social media:
Each week we share with you our pick of the best stories on charity retail, shopping secondhand and the circular economy from the UK, Ireland and around the world.
We also add links to relevant Charity Retail Learning courses associated with each article to help you implement some of the ideas we’re sharing
Here’s our pick from the past 7 days
Our 2022 highlights
Hot off the press, here’s our highlights from 2022 – thank you to everyone who’s worked and engaged with us over the past 12 months. We hope your year has been as good as ours and that 2023 is even better!
Acopia Best Dressed competition winners announced
Congratulations to St Mary’s Hospice shop, Ulverston, Dog’s Trust, in Wetherby & Cornwall Hospice Care in Truro. You can see the winning windows here:
Who are the Winners of The Acopia Best Dressed Charity Christmas Window Competition 2022? | YouTube
Recommended:
Visual Merchandising Webinar – Planning Your Year | Charity Retail Learning
Commercial sellers step up to meet demand
Even more investment & collaboration from ebay in terms of second hand fashion. An amazing stat from ebay is that they have seen one second hand fashion sale every second so far in 2022.
eBay ties up with circular fashion form ACS to expand second-hand offering | Charged Retail
Recommended:
Introduction to ecommerce | Charity Retail Learning
It takes two baby!
A fab example of two organisations collaborating – including our friends at St Lukes Cares in Leeds. Working together can really help to have greater impact, and can be done in lots of creative ways. Who in your community would be good for you to link up with?
Community collaboration raises £800 for Getting Clean | South Leeds Life
Recommended:
Charity shops to the charts
Great to see charity shops at the top of this list as Dr. Gordon Fletcher from the University of Salford Business School, shares his predictions for the next 12 months.
This will be our last news round up of 2022 as the team all take a well earned break – so we wish you a very happy festive season and a peaceful and profitable new year!
More About Us
The Charity Retail Consultancy helps charity retailers and other non-profits (including museums and galleries) develop their retail operation, improve their product offer and people, and improve their profitability.
The 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 Charity Retail Learning to their members and beyond.
The Charity Retail Coach offers a first class executive coaching service via our Associate, Dan O’Driscoll.
To find out more or to speak to us about how we can help you, please get in touch:
hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
Jayne – 07598 243210
Vicki – 07985 574904
Follow us on social media:
At this time of the year, we love to look back on all the things we’ve done and people we’ve worked with over the past 12 months.
Together with our wonderful designer, Patrick Hostler, we’ve pulled together an infographic to summarise it all – so here it is…
Thank you to everyone who’s been part of our journey this year – and here’s to the next one!
Jayne, Vicki & Haris
More About Us
The Charity Retail Consultancy helps charity retailers and other non-profits (including museums and galleries) develop their retail operation, improve their product offer and people, and improve their profitability.
The 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 Charity Retail Learning to their members and beyond.
The Charity Retail Coach offers a first class executive coaching service via our Associate, Dan O’Driscoll.
To find out more or to speak to us about how we can help you, please get in touch:
hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
Jayne – 07598 243210
Vicki – 07985 574904
Follow us on social media:
Each week we share with you our pick of the best stories on charity retail, shopping secondhand and the circular economy from the UK, Ireland and around the world.
We also add links to relevant Charity Retail Learning courses associated with each article to help you implement some of the ideas we’re sharing
Here’s our pick from the past 7 days
Last call for your Chsirtmas window displays!
Over 70 shops have taken part so far in this year’s #acopiabestdressed Christmas Charity Shop Window Competition and there are just 3 days left to enter!
Acopia are thrilled to receive entries from competition veterans Barnardo’s, Acorns and Age Concern as well newcomers to the competition – The Dog’s Trust, Sue Ryder and The Kirkwood to name a few.
The standard once again has been very high this year and there has been real ingenuity in the use of re-used and donated items.
As well as all the lovely photos, several charities have submitted videos too which has really helped to bring their windows to life.
This year, Acopia have been working with Charity Shop Girl to encourage more shops to enter their festive window displays. Jen will be judging all the entries along with Terry Gardner early next week, ahead of the winners announcement video – so watchout for that on the 20th! Jen will also be spending a day volunteering in the winning shop!
So if you haven’t entered your shop yet, there is just still time – here is the link with all the details and the all-important prizes:
Will your shop be crowned the best dressed charity shop window this Christmas? | Acopia
Good luck everyone!
Recommended:
Visual Merchandising | Charity Retail Learning
Charity Super.Mkt calls for retailers to take part
This article gives you all you need to know about an exciting development form Wayne Hemingway and TRAID’s collab, aiming to bring charity superstores to the high street. An amazing opportunity – so don’t miss out!
Charities sought to join Wayne Hemingway & Maria Chenoweth’s Charity Super.Mkt – UK Fundraising
Recommended:
Planning & Running a Charity Pop-up Shop | Charity Retail Learning
Christmas for hire
A really interesting article in The Guardian about the new trend for renting instead of buying this Christmas. Is this something your shops could consider?
St John’s Hospice in Lancaster champions sustainability via its new store
We were delighted to see this piece about our friends at St John’s Hospice and their fantastic new sustainable superstore. There are some fab ideas about collaboration and creating a really welcoming & exciting space here – we wish them every success with the new venture
Recommended:
Green credentials for charity retailers | Charity Retail Learning
Encourage your customers to gift second hand this year
Here at the Consultancy, we love second hand gifting and can’t wait for our Secret Santa charity shop gift exchange next week…… And the great news is that lots of the public feel the same, with 65% of people saying they would consider gifting someone a secondhand item in the next 12 months, according to a Vinted survey.
So what are you doing to encourage your customers and community to buy secondhand this Christmas? Make sure you tempt them in using your windows and social media then give them a fabulous shopping experience to ensure that a customer is for life, not just for Christmas!
How To Buy Secondhand Christmas Presents, From People Who Do It | HuffPost UK Life | Huffington Post
Recommended:
Customer Service Courses | Charity Retail Learning
Social media for charity shops | Charity Retail Learning
More About Us
The Charity Retail Consultancy helps charity retailers and other non-profits (including museums and galleries) develop their retail operation, improve their product offer and people, and improve their profitability.
The 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 Charity Retail Learning to their members and beyond.
The Charity Retail Coach offers a first class executive coaching service via our Associate, Dan O’Driscoll.
To find out more or to speak to us about how we can help you, please get in touch:
hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
Jayne – 07598 243210
Vicki – 07985 574904
Follow us on social media:
Each week we share with you our pick of the best stories on charity retail, shopping secondhand and the circular economy from the UK, Ireland and around the world.
We also add links to relevant Charity Retail Learning courses associated with each article to help you implement some of the ideas we’re sharing
Here’s our pick from the past 7 days
Shopping sustainably this Christmas
We love this sustainable gift guide put together by our friends at Isabel Hospice. It aligns perfectly with the charity shops in terms of sustainability, encourages supporters to shop more with offers & vouchers and tells them about how their purchase can make a difference locally. Plus it promotes the hospice’s own gin. Great work!
Isabel Hospice Gift Guide by Isabel Hospice | Issuu
St Barnabas Hospice x Charity Shop Girl
For a lesson in how to engage and delight your customers check out this fab collaboration. The event involved influencers, stylists, cocktails, music, food and LOTS of charity shop shopping in the hospice’s warehouse store. This is a masterclass in experiential retail.
St Barnabas Hospice | LinkedIn
Recommended:
Charity Retail Top Tips with Jen | YouTube
Charity shops gain from a more frugal Christmas
Here are some really interesting insights from Oxfam & BHF this week on how the cost of living crisis is influencing gift buying this Christmas. Charity shops are set to gain as consumers turn to pre loved for gifts – with books top of the Christmas gift list. The Charity Retail Association have also launched their annual Good Cause Santa Claus campaign, encouraging people to buy gifts from charity shops – so make sure you get behind it and encourage your customers to think differently this year
Good Cause Santa Claus 2022 | Charity Retail Association
What’s in your phone box?
We love these tiny charity shops popping up in phone boxes – we’ve also seen them used for book swaps, seed swaps and information hubs. Why not see if your local phone boxes could be an extension of your charity retail operation?
Approval for tiny charity shop in Norwich red phone box | Norwich Evening News
More About Us
The Charity Retail Consultancy helps charity retailers and other non-profits (including museums and galleries) develop their retail operation, improve their product offer and people, and improve their profitability.
The 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 Charity Retail Learning to their members and beyond.
The Charity Retail Coach offers a first class executive coaching service via our Associate, Dan O’Driscoll.
To find out more or to speak to us about how we can help you, please get in touch:
hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
Jayne – 07598 243210
Vicki – 07985 574904
Follow us on social media:
Each week we share with you our pick of the best stories on charity retail, shopping secondhand and the circular economy from the UK, Ireland and around the world.
We also add links to relevant Charity Retail Learning courses associated with each article to help you implement some of the ideas we’re sharing
Here’s our pick from the past 7 days
Good news for charity shops
We’ve all seen how sales are rising across the sector – this piece in Third Sector (you may have to register for free to the site to read it) invites Jonathan Mail from the CRA to tell us why. Good to hear from Barnarado’s too on their current retail journey – and the Charity Shop gift Card – perfect for Christmas!
In-depth: How charity shops are thriving against the economic odds | Third Sector
And this BBC article from a couple of weeks ago tells the same story;
Cost of living: Second-hand shopping in vogue as prices rise | BBC
Keeping the wheels turning – efficiently
Here’s a fab read from Tim Gebauer – one of our favorite thrifters from the US. Tim tells us about keeping our back rooms clear, clean & efficient – great advice!
3 Ways to Improve Donated Goods Production | LinkedIn
Recommended:
Essential Stock Processes – from back room to shop floor | Charity Retail Learning
Anti Black Friday movement
Charity retailers are in a fantastic position to buck the consumerist Black Friday trend – and here’s evidence that other mainstream retailers are starting to turn the table on this OTT practice. How could you make the most of the day to promote how great value doesn’t have to be unsustainable?
Five retailers taking an anti-Black Friday stand | Retail Gazette
Recommended:
Buy Nothing New Day – Black Friday | YouTube
Top shopping tips for Northern Ireland
A really thorough roundup of all the best places to pick up a bargain in Northern Ireland
10 of the best places in NI to go charity shop hunting | NorthernIrelandWorld
Spotlight on digital
An interesting piece on the partnership between BHF and Shopiago as they upped their game online during the pandemic
Dark stores: the digital transformation of charity retail | Charity Digital
Recommended:
Introduction to ecommerce | Charity Retail Learning
Secondhand furniture trends from the US
Good to see a focus on furniture in this piece on resale trends from the US
7 Notable Furniture Resale Trends, According to Recent Marketplace Reports | Architectural Digest
St Teresa’s Hospice opens antique shop
Lovely to hear about this new specialist shop in Darlington – supported by Peter Robinson from Bargain Hunt fame. We wish them every success
More About Us
The Charity Retail Consultancy helps charity retailers and other non-profits (including museums and galleries) develop their retail operation, improve their product offer and people, and improve their profitability.
The 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 Charity Retail Learning to their members and beyond.
The Charity Retail Coach offers a first class executive coaching service via our Associate, Dan O’Driscoll.
To find out more or to speak to us about how we can help you, please get in touch:
hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
Jayne – 07598 243210
Vicki – 07985 574904
Follow us on social media:
Each week we share with you our pick of the best stories on charity retail, shopping secondhand and the circular economy from the UK, Ireland and around the world.
We also add links to relevant Charity Retail Learning courses associated with each article to help you implement some of the ideas we’re sharing
Here’s our pick from the past 7 days
Charity Shop Gift Card gathers pace
We were delighted to see our friends at St Giles Hospice go live with the Gift Card recently. It’s such a fantastic scheme – we encourage all CRA members to join and be part of a scheme that will be as much of a household name as Book Tokens before long!
St Giles Hospice signs up to gift card scheme for charity shops | Lichfield Live
Recommended:
The Charity Shop Gift Card | The Charity Retail Consultancy
Everyone’s embracing secondhand
News from the US where affluent shoppers are becoming increasingly more likely to shop secondhand, driven by the desire to be more sustainable
Resale revolution: Affluent shoppers embrace secondhand shopping | CNBC
Also this article gives a great overview of some of the activity by mainstream retail moving into the pre loved market
Rise Of The Resale Business In The Retail World | Forbes
Recommended:
Introduction to selling on Depop | Charity Retail Learning
Costs of running stores escalate
We are all feeling the pinch as the cost of living crisis takes hold. This article about The Betty Ennis Foundation Charity in Coventry highlights the struggle many charities are facing to cover increased bills. Thankfully the rise in customers and those wanting – or needing – to shop in charity retail will help to offset some of the extra costs, but there’s no doubt that times are hard just now
‘The cost of running our charity shop foodbank has hit £4,000 – it’s frightening’ | Mirror Online
M&S champion flexible retail hours for staff
Some great ideas here from M&S – so important when facing the challenges of getting the right staff, and being up against other sectors where flexible and home working is more simple.
M&S offers 4-day week for store staff in flexible working drive | Retail Gazette
Recommended:
How to get best results when managing a remote team | Charity Retail Learning
NCBI revisited…
This is an older article, but one that still resonates and has some great sustainability messages. Rosie Henson has since moved over to CRUK and NCBI is now headed up by the fab Beverley Scallan – and continues to do brilliant work in Ireland.
‘Lighter wallet, clearer conscience’: The planet-friendly impact of charity-shop shopping | Image
More About Us
The Charity Retail Consultancy helps charity retailers and other non-profits (including museums and galleries) develop their retail operation, improve their product offer and people, and improve their profitability.
The 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 Charity Retail Learning to their members and beyond.
The Charity Retail Coach offers a first class executive coaching service via our Associate, Dan O’Driscoll.
To find out more or to speak to us about how we can help you, please get in touch:
hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
Jayne – 07598 243210
Vicki – 07985 574904
Follow us on social media:
Why it’s charity retail’s time to shine and how marketing can help
Blog by Julian Temblett – ‘The Charity Marketeer’ for the Charity Retail Consultancy
It’s very easy to get caught up in the current doom and gloom. With inflation rising, an energy and cost of living crisis, rail strikes and high street retailers preparing for a challenging Christmas ahead – I sometimes feel like I’ve woken up back in the 1970’s. And I know our sector has its own significant challenges. The post Covid world and recent events have left us with less volunteers, staff shortages, a rise in energy bills and a likely drop in stock donations, as people buy less and trade more. But now is not the time to press the panic button. A couple of weeks ago I took a stroll up Park Street in Bristol, and was reminded of why I feel optimistic about what lies ahead. Park Street has always been one of Bristol’s most premium of retail destinations, and today is no different. With a mixture of top end fashion brands like Fred Perry and Jigsaw, noodle bars and students on scooters – there is definitely a buzz in the air. What is most striking however is that a new fashion phenomenon has arrived. I was visiting the British Heart Foundation’s new boutique shop at the top of the street, which sits alongside a growing array of thrift and vintage stores. If this can happen on Park Street – it can happen anywhere.
Charity shops are now being welcomed, not shunned
BHF, Park St, Bristol
This is an incredible turnaround for a sector once stigmatised as ‘bringing down’ the high street. You can literally ‘feel the love for preloved’ in the air. The same goes on social media, and even local retailers have welcomed the new BHF shop with donations of end of line stock and gifts for opening day customers. This follows a number of major social trends, from the environmental crisis and desire for a greater sense of community following Covid, to a new generation of consumers searching for authenticity who proudly wear preloved as a badge of honour. At the start of the year Forbes highlighted ‘conscious consumers and the environment’ as their top retail trend, and every business and commercial retailer now has ‘sustainability and social purpose’ near the top of the to do list.
This is of course all music to our ears, because no one else can deliver more on these trends than charity shops. Every time we tell a story about the money and carbon saved from switching to preloved, or the charitable services funded by donating unwanted items – our collective brand just keeps getting stronger. Yes, we have always tended to do well during recessions – but these customer changes are on a different scale.
The competition is only going to increase
Patagonia, Bristol
But this is also not the time for complacency. The other significant change is that the commercial sector has now truly woken up. Whilst this has been building over the years, research from Thred-up suggests the market for fashion resale will double by 2025, with 62% of millennials and gen Z consumers in the US now searching for second hand before buying new. Where the customer goes, commercial investment and innovation will follow. New ‘sustainable’ propositions will pop up on high streets, major retailers will increase space for resale, and advertising spend will rocket. On Park Street you get a taster of what’s to come. Patagonia offer to mend your old garments, recycle unwanted t-shirts and promote petitions to help save the planet. One thrift store promotes its loyalty rewards and regular offers on Instagram, and another allows you to trace a product’s origins with a QR code. All of this is music to Gen Z’s ears.
How we can all use marketing to help
Whilst the sector is already responding with a focus in areas such as ecommerce, social media and new store formats – I think many of the answers lie within the need for effective marketing. Going back to marketing basics can help all of us, no matter our size or budget. There are 5 key ways I think marketing can help…
1.Listening to our customers – at the heart of all marketing is a need to put ourselves in the customers shoes. Surveys, mystery shops and even focus groups can all be done on a budget, and provide rich information to ensure we know what our customers want and think of our offer
2. Being more strategic – Setting goals, being clear on the customers we are targeting, and shaping a joined-up plan of action that everyone buys into, really can help to focus resources, inspire teams and deliver results
3. Using cost effective means of promotion – Whether it’s providing shop teams with the key resources and support they need to promote themselves and engage their communities, or coordinating central charity colleagues to promote retail campaigns – we need to exploit every opportunity we can to market ourselves
4. Matching our product offering to our customers’ needs – from vintage sections to corporate volunteer days and post-back donations – we need to keep innovating to appeal to a new generation of customers
5. Making our products and services more available – whether it’s a pop-up at a festival, a concession in a supermarket or a new online selling platform – we need to find new ways to take our offer out to customers. And the same goes with stock and volunteering, where local communities and partnerships provide rich opportunities to promote our services
Oxfam’s Second Hand September and Barnardo’s ‘Fashion for all’ campaigns are shining examples of what can be achieved on a national scale. And many specialist shops, like BHF Park Street, appeal directly to their local customer. Whatever the size of your chain, the same basic marketing principles apply. The most important thing to remember is that the customer is always right, and if we recognise this and respond accordingly, then I really do think it will be charity retail’s time to shine.
If you can see the value in more effective marketing, then why not get in touch and let us help? Our expertise can make an impact quickly, provide support to your teams, and avoid having to add to the already long to do list.
Julian Temblett is the ‘Charity Retail Marketeer’ for the Charity Retail Consultancy, providing a range of affordable marketing services, training and support to help charities of all sizes.
New Marketing Essentials for Charity Retail training course
Learn the essentials in 2 ½ hours and make an impact for your shops
Early bird offer – £50 £40 – find out more
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Get your charity 2023 Marketing ready with a comprehensive health check to help you and your teams
Special Autumn offer – find out more
Find out more about Julian and all of our marketing services
Each week we share with you our pick of the best stories on charity retail, shopping secondhand and the circular economy from the UK, Ireland and around the world.
We also add links to relevant Charity Retail Learning courses associated with each article to help you implement some of the ideas we’re sharing
Here’s our pick from the past 7 days
St Barnabas Hospice host a vintage lock-in
We love this event put on by our friends at St Barnabas in Lincoln. It’s a great collaboration, with local (Lincoln Bloggers UK) and national (Charity Shop Girl) influencers and providing a special and unique out of hours experience for their customers. Events like this are a great way to engage and delight your community – and get them off their devices and into your stores
Vintage Lock-In at The Warehouse | St Barnabas Hospice
Recommended:
Happy 100th birthday Vinnies!
St Vincent de Paul Society Australia – or Vinnie’s as it’s affectionately known – celebrates 100 years of trading via its Op Shops this year. This article gives some fab insight into its history – and champions a brilliant initiative where 100 donated designer pieces are hidden across the store network
100 designer pieces hidden on the racks in op-shop treasure hunt | Sydney Morning Herald
More than half of UK citizens are happy to buy second-hand clothing
THanks to the Charity Retail Association for highlighting a new report from Textiles 2030 on attitudes to secondhand clothing. You can find out more here
Textiles 2030 – Citizen Insights Study | Charity Retail Association
Spotlight on Traid
Here’s a great interview with one of the team from the fabulous Traid, who run shops across London
Cost of living: The Walthamstow charity shop seeing an increase in clothes shoppers | MyLondon
Scope launches upcycling and awareness project via their stores
This sounds like a really positive collab on all sides – delivering sustainable and unique product, and promoting the aims of the charity
Furniture business joins forces with Scope to spotlight power of art and autism | Yahoo
Recommended:
Green credentials for charity retailers | Charity Retail Learning
World of Books Group officially carbon neutral
Congratulations to our friends at Wob (who also deliver Shopiago) who announced today that they are now officially certified as Operational Carbon Neutral. As a sustainable sector, it’s important to know that suppliers take sustainability seriously too – at The Consultancy we’ve taken several steps to reduce our carbon footprint, including having an electric vehicle, delivering training and other services online as much as possible and significantly reducing how much we fly.
Wob said today:
“Over the last few years, we’ve been working really hard to reduce the amount of carbon we create as a business and, thanks to everyone’s efforts behind the scenes, we’re now officially certified as “Operational Carbon Neutral”. This means that as a business we are now offsetting more carbon than we produce.
This is an amazing accomplishment for Wob and it means we’re making a really positive impact on the planet. Our whole business model is based on a “future first” approach and as early adopters of carbon neutrality, we’re not afraid to make huge changes to future-proof our planet.”
More About Us
The Charity Retail Consultancy helps charity retailers and other non-profits (including museums and galleries) develop their retail operation, improve their product offer and people, and improve their profitability.
The 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 Charity Retail Learning to their members and beyond.
The Charity Retail Coach offers a first class executive coaching service via our Associate, Dan O’Driscoll.
To find out more or to speak to us about how we can help you, please get in touch:
hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
Jayne – 07598 243210
Vicki – 07985 574904
Follow us on social media:
Each week we share with you our pick of the best stories on charity retail, shopping secondhand and the circular economy from the UK, Ireland and around the world.
We also add links to relevant Charity Retail Learning courses associated with each article to help you implement some of the ideas we’re sharing
Here’s our pick from the past 7 days
Declining volunteer numbers a major challenge
We know this is a major issue for many charities just now – and the Civil Society Charity Shops survey reflects that here:
Number of charity shop volunteers drops by nearly a quarter in three years | Civil Society
Recommended:
Volunteer Induction & Recognition | Charity Retail Learning
Royal visit to Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice shop
The Princess of Gloucester paid a rescheduled visit to our friends at Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice after it had to be postponed due to Covid. The team there were delighted that she asked to visit their Greenwich High Rd shop – and insisted that it wasn’t closed during her visit. She met and spoke with staff, volunteers and customers. A great endorsement for charity retail and local high streets
The Duchess of Gloucester visits Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice | Royal.uk
Charity retail, Portuguese style….
We always love to see what’s happening around the world (we were over in Australia this week at Charitable Recycling Australia’s conference), so it’s great to see this piece on a charity retail chain in Portugal.
WOOFF charity shops in aid of Animal Rescue Algarve | Portugal Resident
Lidl Disposals List
If you’re on the look out for a large format store, signing up to receive the Lidl Disposals list is a great place to start. Sent via email each month, it includes all the units the business currently has on the market, including stores and smaller adjacent units. You can sign up for it by emailing lidl.disposals-GB@lidl.co.uk
More mainstream retailers join the secondhand revolution
News from the US on resale and GenZ and a new partnership between Hot Topic and ThredUp – showing the growing interest in resale from mainstream retailers. Protecting our stock supply will be a real priority in the coming months and years.
How resale apps are courting Gen Z shoppers | Modern Retail
Hot Topic launches resale offer with ThredUp | Fashion United
Recommended:
Right stock, right shop – how to effectively stock your shops | Charity Retail Learning
More About Us
The Charity Retail Consultancy helps charity retailers and other non-profits (including museums and galleries) develop their retail operation, improve their product offer and people, and improve their profitability.
The 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 Charity Retail Learning to their members and beyond.
The Charity Retail Coach offers a first class executive coaching service via our Associate, Dan O’Driscoll.
To find out more or to speak to us about how we can help you, please get in touch:
hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
Jayne – 07598 243210
Vicki – 07985 574904
Follow us on social media:
