A Marie Curie charity shop is taking Sustainable Fashion Week to heart this week – transforming into a pop-up final chance store.
The UK’s leading end of life charity shop on The Kingsway, Swansea will turn into the last chance” store for three months from September 26 – offering up good quality pieces for as little as 20p per item.
“These are wearable, good-quality items that have completed their standard sales cycle in Marie Curie shops and are being offered at heavily reduced prices to give them a final chance to be reused.”
The pop-up store will sell women and men’s coats and jackets, priced at £1, with multibuy deals across children’s, books, media and homeware, plus mystery bags and ‘fill a bag’ options for £3 each.
Nicola Reynolds, Marie Curie Retail District Manager for Wales, said: “With Swansea being a student city, we thought this would be the perfect location to try our new pop up last chance store.
“We get a minimal amount for these items from recycling merchants, and it isn’t a system that is going to remain viable for much longer, so we’re trying something different by selling that stock exclusively at this store.
“Sustainable Fashion Week seemed the perfect time to trial this pop-up and we’d encourage all Swansea residents – from students to pensioners – to pop along to see what we have on offer.”
Nicola adds: “Charity shops as a whole have seen a drop in donations following the impact of second hand selling apps.
“For Marie Curie Cymru, in some areas, we have seen not only a decline in donations, but also a decline in the quality of donations.
“While some quality donations are still coming through, we understand people do want to earn money from the goods they no longer need. There are fewer donations from younger people too, who we understand do use second hand sales and clothes swap parties to swap their items with others.
“We are very grateful to loyal supporters who always donate to our shops.
“However, the reduction in quality and number of donations has an impact on our ability as a charity to fundraise to ensure we can continue to provide expert hospice care and support to people with an illness they are likely to die from.
“Our retail teams are full of ideas to promote and encourage younger people to come into charity shops, and we will continue to innovate to ensure people are passionate about donating to our cause.
“Our doors will be open to welcome everyone from the local and surrounding communities in to see what stock we have to offer and hear more about the work Marie Curie does.”
