Yes, we are kicking off the new year with a brand-new venture! We are starting
a monthly pop-up charity shop, hosted at Rhodes Bank Chambers on the first Friday of each month.
Charity shops are one of my passions in life and this idea has been a long time coming for the charity, finalising the logistics and ensuring we had enough stock between all of our staff and volunteers was something we wanted to do first before committing to it. We can now confidently say we have a variety of fun items including
clothes (in a multitude of sizes), household items, books, jigsaws and games that will appeal to everyone, at a true bargain.
The Charity shop will not only be open to our service users, we will be opening it up to the public to try to raise as much money as possible for the charity. Furthermore, we will be offering our service users the chance to volunteer in our charity shop, for some experience in stock taking, customer service and handling transactions. This will all be part of our employability scheme which we hope to fully kick start this year.
So, why should we aim to charity shop in 2024?
You can save a lot of money.
To ensure our charity shop is as affordable as possible, we have priced most items of clothing at £1, unless a designer brand. Even then, we have chosen not to charge more than £5.
It's better for the environment
Reusing massively decreases the number of items that are perfectly fine going into landfill, therefore reducing your carbon footprint and slowing down the world of ‘fast fashion’ which causes so much unnecessary textile waste.
You’re donating to charity
One of the great things about charity shopping is that you are donating to charity no matter how much you spend. Every penny that you spend, goes directly to the charity. In our case, the donations would help provide more resources for the fantastic activities we provide every single day.
You can be true to your style, without being influenced by the latest trend
One of my favourite things about charity shopping is finding things that other people aren’t wearing right now, and being able to be individual and different.
You could find brand-new things with tags
It is amazing how many unwanted gifts people donate to charity shops. Christmas time and birthdays are times when everyone puts pressure on themselves to buy their loved ones or friends brand new gifts. There is no shame in buying second-hand, especially for a fraction of the price for something unopened and brand new.
So I hope to have encouraged you to visit our charity shop, which will be open for business from Friday 2nd February, 10am-2pm at the reception of Rhodes Bank Chambers, 184-188 Union Street, Oldham, OL1 1EN. We will be adding sneak peeks on our social media in the lead-up to the grand opening so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Emily Trelore, 22nd January 2024
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