Business for charity shops is back and booming more than ever after the long wait to reopen since the lockdown.

With these charities around the city re-opening for the first time in months, there has been much discussion around the donations which the public give to charities, and whether they are even useful at all.

Of course, the more donations the better, right? But many owners and volunteers of charity shops have been raising the issue that the amount they are receiving is either too much for the shops to hold, or just unsellable.

A trade association has warned that people should call and check before they drop off donations, due to fears of overcrowding.

Chief executive Robin Osterley said, “we have two asks of the generous public”.
“Be thoughtful – is this stuff you’d be prepared to buy yourself? And the second is to contact the shop before you roll up with armfuls of goods.”

There has also been further worry that the more donations and drop-offs received, the more pressure there is being placed on the staff.

With the increasing interest in second-hand clothes shopping having a positive environmental impact, there does not seem to be a stagnation that some owners are hoping for.

However, some local charities like the British Heart Foundation in Salford, have disagreed. Zoe, a volunteer at the shop has said:

“We are receiving more donations every day. This week, we have managed to rack in 250 bags of donations, this is nothing unusual.

“We never turn anyone or anything away, it gives us business, and I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing.”

Other charity staff across Salford have agreed, that some clutter is not worth the hassle of bringing it down.

But with time being in many people’s favours over the past few months, it does not look likely that the bags of a long hard clear out will reduce any time soon.

Brian Chadwick / Macmillan Cancer Support Charity Shop – North Street – Midhurst, West Sussex / CC BY-SA 2.0

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