Princess Alice Hospice was forced to close all 46 of their charity shops on 21 March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following weeks of extensive work and planning behind the scenes, we are delighted that 7 shops will re-open their doors to customers on 2 July, as part of wider, phased re-opening plans. The first shops to reopen will be in Ashford, Banstead, Croydon, East Twickenham, Esher, Staines and Twickenham.
The shops bring in approximately £500,000 of vital funds for the Hospice every year, which means we have lost in the region of £125,000 while they were closed. The shops have been risk assessed and will be following the latest Government guidance to protect staff, volunteers and customers.
Cherie Noy, Deputy Director of Retail Operations, says: ‘We’re delighted to be throwing open our doors to customers again from 2nd July. It’s been a tough few months for us but I want to reassure everybody that we’ve worked incredibly hard to protect our staff, volunteers and customers for the re-openings. We'll quarantine all donated goods for 72 hours before processing them, and we'll have hand sanitiser in all shops. We’ll be displaying posters with advice about how to shop safely in all our shops, and we’ll only be accepting card and contactless payments. Our shops will also close an hour early to allow for cleaning.’’
Cherie continues: ‘In June we rolled out a series of ‘drive-through donation’ points to allow people to donate items to us safely and easily. Due to the overwhelming response we received, we introduced an appointment-only scheme and we’ve been delighted by the high-quality nature of donations we’ve received: from high-end fashion labels through to designer items too, I would encourage people of all ages to come and grab themselves a bargain in our shops!’
Details about further drive-thru events can be found on our website. People can also drop off donations at their local shop when it reopens, between 9.30 and 11am. We plan restart our furniture collection and delivery service as soon as we can. Please follow us on twitter, Facebook and Instagram for latest updates or visit our website to find out more.
