Another item crossed off the bucket list.
Last Saturday I was lucky enough to go and help my friend set up a sale in the St Peter's Hospice shop where she works in Bristol. She is Deputy Manager of their Bishopston store on Gloucester Road and it was her job to set up a big summer sale last week so she roped in a few extra pairs of hands to help. Luckily, I wasn't working which is rare for a Saturday so I jumped at the chance of lending a hand for a couple of hours (despite it being John's birthday that day). What can I say, I am a bad wife but a good friend.
Those of you that are regulars to my blog will know that I write about St Peters a lot, trying to promote them and their stores whenever I can. They do an amazing job in their Hospice in Brentry in Bristol for people that are terminally ill and they rely heavily on their chain of 42 shops in and around Bristol to raise much needed funds.
They are not like other charity shops, they really have paid attention to what is going on in the retail sector and mirror many boutique style shops with lovely shop fittings and interior design. They are always bright and welcoming and the clothes are all colour-blocked so it is a very inviting place to shop. Their shops have "shunned" the old cliché of charity shops being smelly, dark, jumble sale style places, harnessing the love for all things vintage and second-hand, promoting a new way of shopping.....and thinking.
For anyone that knows the Gloucester Road area of Bristol, you will know it is a vibrant community full of local independent shops alongside a large array of charity shops. It has a slightly bohemian feel to it which I love, a far cry from the giant retail behemoths in the city centre. It's an area where charity shops do very well but there is also a lot of competition. This particular St Peters Shop is right next door to the Clic Sargent Vintage Flagship store (that I wrote about recently) but they also have another St Peters Store further up the road which is much larger and sells furniture. Nic likened them to "Harrods" whereas her store is more "M&S" in scale. It did make me laugh, I would prefer M&S any day.
This is Nicola and her sales assistant Rhiannon that were working that day. In order to get the sale in full swing, Nic bought balloons, sweets, we put up bunting, just as you would in any other store hoping to make the most of a promotion. It was interesting spending time there as I learnt that they too have sales targets, as per most shops and the pressure is no less apparent just because they are a charity. In some ways, the pressure is more because they know how desperately important every single penny is. The target for that day was £1000 which put things in perspective when we sometimes don't even take that in one of our Wallis stores! It's even more of a challenge when the items that you sell are traditionally at the lower end of the price bracket meaning you need to sell more of them to hit your plan. The charity needs an average of £16,000 per day to keep the hospice running and that comes largely from their stores, fund raising events such as the Midnight Walk and from donations left to them by individuals in their wills.
It is such an amazing and worthwhile cause, I admire anyone that works or volunteers for charity. A few years ago, after taking voluntary redundancy, I was lucky enough to take a 3 month break from paid work and I did lots of volunteering. Some for animal charities which are a real passion of mine but also charities that support the elderly who I think get so easily overlooked. It was really rewarding and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to do it.
I work pretty much every Saturday so its not an option for me to volunteer on a fixed basis so it was nice to be able to help for a couple of hours if nothing else. While I was there, a stag party came in looking for waist-coats (which we didn't have unfortunately, despite rummaging through many a bag in the store room) and it made me realise that a lot of trade probably comes in that guise. My stepdaughter was recently looking for a fancy dress item and her first port of call was a local charity shop so they really do serve the communities in many ways for many different reasons.
Surprisingly for me, I only managed to buy one item, which I felt guilty about as I was hoping to find loads and bump up the sales for that day. I tried several things on (including a few pairs of shoes) but it was not meant to be. My only purchase being this little seahorse bracelet that I gave to my mum which was £2.50 and well worth the smile on her face.
So please give a thought to these shops that do such amazing work for the charities they front and to the dedication of those that work there. From all of the second-hand and vintage junkies out there,
We salute you!
No comments:
Post a Comment