Customers spend £1bn at charity shops
New research indicates that charity shops are performing well with sales hitting a record £974m in the last year, up £30m on last year.
The report, put together by the Charity Retail Association and independent consultants JRA Research, found that tough economic conditions meant more people were making purchases at charity shops.
The research found that an extra million “hard-pressed middle class” people had been visiting charity shops since last year. It said that 22% of people are shopping in charity shops more frequently now than two years ago.
It also found that 73% of mothers who had shopped in charity shops in the past 12 months had bought items for their children, including clothes.
Despite the increase in sales, the research says more people are choosing to sell their clothes online. As a result of struggling to meet the increase in demand from charity shoppers, the Charity Retail Association has kicked off a ‘Choose Charity Shops’ campaign, encouraging the public to make a donation to their local charity shop.
Warren Alexander, chief executive of the Charity Retail Association, says that while charity shops are a uniquely British institution they “can’t survive without donations from the public”.
