#Wolverhampton Society for the Blind

[frimleyblogger]

How Charity Shops Took Over The High Street

The inexorable rise of the #charityshop @CharityRetail

Charity bazaars, elaborate themed events to raise monies for charitable causes, continued to be part of the social scene until the Second World War, although they were increasingly replaced by less elaborate “pop up” charity fundraising events, such as jumble sales, and, later still, bring-and-buy sales. The first recorded jumble sale was held in Wollaston to raise funds for “church…

[katieegolder]

Charity Shops

A charity shop is a retail establishment run by a charitable organisation to raise money. They mainly sell clothes, books, DVDs, music albums and sometimes furniture . This is all donated by the public and often staffed by volunteers. Because the items that are for sale are free the prices they will sell them for are often low. Charity shops may also be referred to as thrift stores, hospice shops and resale shops. There are now over 9’000 charity shops in the UK and Republic of Ireland, donations should be given straight to the staff and preferably not left outside as goods may be stolen or damaged by passes and the weather. In high-end areas like London, donations will include good quality designer clothing. In addition to this some shops would take donations may specialise in vintage clothing, furniture, electrical items or records.Almost all charity shops sell on unsold textiles to textile processes. Charity shop save an average of 40 tonnes of textiles every year by selling them in the shops or passing them on to textile merchant’s for recycling or reuse.

History

One of the earliest charity shops set up by the Wolverhampton Society for the Blind in 1899 to sell goods made by the blind people to raise money for the society. During World War I various fundraising activities occurred in Shepherd market, London. Which raised £50,000 for the Red Cross. Linking back to the research I did for clothing in the Second World War, when charity shops became widespread, the Red Cross opened its first charity shop in London in 1941 for the duration of the war. The proceeds from the shops would go to the Duke of Gloucester share is Red Cross or Saint Johns friend. To add to this the first Oxfam charity shop in the UK was established on broad Street, Oxford. Oxfam now has 700 shops which is the largest number of shops they have had, they are also the second largest retailer of second hand books.