Opening Charity Shop

fattyrae1

Hi.

Does anyone know how easy it is to set up a charity shop? I personally, have no money and rubbish credit rating but would love to start up a shop for a charity i support. Can you get grants or anything?

BTW, i am in N Ireland...

Savvy_Sue

You would need to have permission from the charity to use their name, so I would start by talking to them. There is an Association of Charity Shops.

TBH, without any retail experience I think you'd struggle to set up and run a shop of any kind. And these days even charity shops have to be extremely 'professional' in the way they operate.

But if you talk to the charity, they may be able to suggest quick'n'easy ways of supporting them.

soolin

It is rarely an independent individual thatopens a shop, most are professionally managed by the charity themselves.

If you want to work in a charity shop then contact the charity direct and ask about local shops. The management arm is usually paid, but the jobs are rare, but volunteers are always welcome. If you have a particular skill I'm sure you would be very welcome, my local shop was recently looking for someone who could use a sewing machine and who could do minor repairs on some of the better clothing items they received as donations. Lots of book sellers also volunteer at charity shops as well to help sort the good from the bad, Oxham particularly welcome book sorters with some knowledge of the market. However, just being able to offer a few hours to man a till a few times a week would, I'm sure be welcomed with open arms.

Savvy_sewing

Most charities that have shops are usually run by themselves. I was a manager for British Heart Foundation until recently. It is a rewarding job, but is not really done for a living wage! Usually only the manager earns a wage, and some larger charities have paid assistants, but not many. Most of the staff are volunteers. Without whom the charities would not survive at all. The cost of labour and the cost of business rates etc, and rents take a lot of the sales. including the heating, lighting and insurances. etc etc. The best thing to do is as said, go to the charities and start to look. Some are more Business minded then others. Some really are run like a proper shop. BHF are, so is Shaw trust, Oxfam, and Cancer research. Also Banardos now specialise too. Thats just a few I know from having like wise friends working in the business. (I finally finished in January due to ill health and miss it terribly. Especially all my volunteers.)

Jaime-V

As others have said does the charity you want to support already have shops, you would need to approach the charity directly.

I volunteer in a Marie Curie Cancer Care shop and they are always in need of volunteers, as all charity shops are!

If you started volunteering for your charity it would help them a lot more than you may think in terms of raising funds for them.

oldtoolie

My charity doesn't have a shop but we do have volunteers who sell surplus donations on eBay and at car boot sales.