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
Celebration!
In celebration of winning 🏆 Supplier of the Year 2022 🏆 at the Charity Retail Awards we are offering 10% off on all upcoming live webinars! Use the code CELEBRATE at check-out to claim your discount.
Thank you to everyone who voted for us. We look forward to making 2023 another fantastic year of learning.
Offer lasts until 22/02/23 so order now to not miss out!
2022 Charity Retail Award winners announced at last!
We were delighted to join charity retailers and suppliers in Birmingham last week to take part in the postponed charity retail awards. A full list of winners is listed here – and we were so humbled and thrilled to be included as Supplier of the Year (Category A). Thank you to everyone who voted for us – and congratulations to all the winners.
The charity retail awards winners 2022 | Charity Retail Association
Charity Retail Awards: Supplier of the Year 2022 🏆 – YouTube
Charity Super.Mkt launch hits the headlines
We’ve loved seeing all the news about the launch of the Charity Super.Mkt pop up in Brent Cross – and all the associated press about charity shops that it’s helped to generate too. Including a great article in The Telegraph, featuring our very own Jayne Cartwright.
Here’s just some of the fabulous coverage from the last week:
Ho charity stores lost their dusty image to become top of the shops | Telegraph
Brent Cross: Charity department store opens in ‘UK first’ | BBC News
The UK’s first charity-shop department store has opened in Brent Cross | Timeout
Charity shop superstore opens in Brent Cross, London | LondonWorld
First multi-charity retail store opens in London |Civil Society
Recommended:
Planning & Running a Charity Pop-up Shop | Charity Retail Learning
Tips for spotting valuable furniture
If it’s a good tip for the flippers – it’s a good tip for the retailers too! Some helpful pointers here on what to look out for when assessing the value of furniture
How to tell if your charity shop find is worth thousands | NationalWorld
ThredUp x commercial retailers – stepping up to the resale market
More news from the US on how commercial retailers are moving into the resale space
How ThredUp is growing its retailer resale business | Modern Retail
Recommended:
Introduction to ecommerce | 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.
The Charity Retail Marketeer can support you with all your charity’s marketing needs
The Charity Retail Merchandiser helps you create stunning and profitable displays in store and online
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:
We were delighted to once again win Supplier of the Year at the Charity Retail Association Awards this week.
The ceremony – postponed from September 2022 – was held in Birmingham, and showcased the best of charity retail.
Our award is for suppliers with up to 50 member clients, with Nisyst and Acopia winning the other supplier categories.
Our success means we hold onto the crown we won the last time this accolade was awarded in 2019.
It goes without saying that we are thrilled to win – especially as the award is the result of an open vote by CRA members. This shows that our work supporting the sector is valued by charities at the coal face – something that is so important to us.
The Consultancy provides help, advice and support in lots of different ways to charities of all sizes – so if you want to know why we’ve been voted as the best, get in touch for a chat and see how we can help you and your retail operation.
Thank you to everyone who voted for us and congratulations to all the winners.
Here’s to a bright and successful 2023 to us all!
——————————————–
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 Academy 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.
The Charity Retail Marketeer can support you with all your charity’s marketing needs
The Charity Retail Merchandiser helps you create stunning and profitable displays in store and online
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 Super.Mkt launches on 27th Jan
Lots of you will have heard by now about the Wayne Hemingway x Traid collab that’s pulled together 10 charities to take part in a charity superstore at Brent Cross. It’s great to see everyone working together to raise income and awareness.
Contributing charities include Age UK, All Aboard, Barnardo’s, Cancer Research, Emmaus, Havens Hospice, SCT, Marie Curie, TRAID, and Shelter.
UK’s first multi-charity preloved pop-up fashion store to open at Brent Cross | TheIndustry.fashion
Recommended:
Planning & Running a Charity Pop-up Shop | Charity Retail Learning
ThredUp – who are they and how do they work?
ThredUP is the world’s largest online thrift store – you may have seen the stats they produce, but how much do you really know about them? This article provides some great insight
Recommended:
Advanced Social Media Webinar | Charity Retail Learning
Latest celeb endorsement of shopping secondhand
It was great to see the story of Deboarh Meadon from Dragon’s Den talking about how she finds her best clothes in charity shops. Do you have a local celeb who maybe supports your charity, or who you’ve seen in your shops? It’s always worth asking if they can talk about their preloved finds to promote your charity.
Dragons’ Den legend Deborah Meaden gets her clothes in charity shops | Metro News
Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity celebrates success
It’s lovely to see this article from our friends at Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity – and they’ve cleverly used the good news to put out a request for stock too. What are you doing in your chain that you could share with the press and on social media?
Record-breaking year for Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity shops. | Bucks Radio
Recommended:
Managing for success | Charity Retail Learning
Mastermind – how did you do?
We were shouting out the answers at the TV last week – were you?!
History of the charity shop to feature on BBC’s Celebrity Mastermind | UK Fundraising
Recommended:
Charity retail – history, trends and current statistics | 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.
The Charity Retail Marketeer can support you with all your charity’s marketing needs
The Charity Retail Merchandiser helps you create stunning and profitable displays in store and online
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:
Blog by Julian Temblett – ‘The Charity Marketeer’ for the Charity Retail Consultancy
With fundraising facing big hurdles, charity retail finds itself at the top of the opportunity pile, due to the growing demand for pre-loved and cost of living crises – with marketing set to play a crucial role in its success. And by marketing, I don’t just mean communications and branding but marketing in its broadest sense. This includes having the insight, strategies and propositions in place, with your charity and partners engaged – to recruit volunteers, source stock and drive sales.
But are you, your teams and your charity 2023 marketing ready?
Take the 5-minute Retail Marketing mini-health check to find out.
Marketing mini-health check
Marketing Services
Find out more about our suite of Marketing Services here
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.
The Charity Retail Marketeer can support you with all your charity’s marketing needs
The Charity Retail Merchandiser helps you create stunning and profitable displays in store and online
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
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: