Weldmar’s charity shops are set to lose an estimated quarter of a million pounds through the second national lockdown.
The chain of charity shops and outlets in Dorset have closed their doors until the second national lockdown is lifted at the start of December.
Director of Retail Gavin Anderson-Terry says the closure of the shops over the next four weeks will lead to a further loss of turnover of around a quarter of a million pounds.
“November is traditionally a busy time,” explains Gavin, “as Christmas shopping really begins to ramp up, even for those of us in the charity retail sector. We find that lots of people come to us for their more unusual gifts, Secret Santa presents, and fashion for Christmas parties and get togethers, so it’s a challenging time to be closed.”
“It’s massive for us, with 24 retail sites to close, and staff to put back onto furlough. We will also be putting lots more items on our eBay site over the next few weeks, and we will process online orders for our Christmas cards, and 2021 calendars and diaries, centrally.”
Gavin explains that the retail closures will not affect hospice services. “Whilst the loss of turnover is certainly significant, it will not affect our patient services at all. We are committed to continuing provision of outstanding end of life care, both for patients being looked after at home, and those in our Inpatient Unit in Dorchester.”
“It is important that the local community continues to stand by us, so I would hope people will come back and shop with us once lockdown ends on 2nd December. That’s the date we are working towards to re-open all of our shops.”
“We are asking people not to leave donations at any of our charity shops, as there won’t be anyone there to take them in. Please keep any items aside, and bring them in once we have re-opened, on the allotted day of the week that your local shop is accepting donations.”
Photo: Weldmar Hospicecare’s Director of Retail, Gavin Anderson-Terry
