Commercial property charity shops are cashing-in on the recession as shoppers hunt for second hand bargains, rather that splashing out on new clothes, according to research conducted by Charity Retail Association (CRA).
Last year, people spent £1 billion in charity commercial properties, which was £30 million more than in 2010 – a record high. The growth of charity shop buying equates to a 3.6 per cent rise, when compared to the previous year.
1822 people were questioned about their charity shop spending habits. Of those, 22 per cent admit to shopping in charity shops more often than in previous years, and 19 per cent admitted that they would visit the commercial properties more often in the future.
Also charity shops are becoming a favourite for people with children. Over half of those surveyed have bought clothes for children from a charity shop in the last year – which may explain why Mothercare is struggling so much.
Speaking of the shopping figures, Warren Alexander, Chief Executive Officer of the CRA, stated: “Charity shops are a uniquely British institution and our new research shows the scale of the national love affair with them, but they can’t survive without donations from the public.”
However, while charity shop sales are booming, the amount of donations to the commercial properties has decreased. Rather than donating unwanted clothes, more and more people are selling them themselves on websites such as eBay to earn the cash for their own pocket. Over 300 people who were surveyed admitted to selling old clothes.
This dive in donations promoted the CRA to set-up the ‘Choose Charity Shops’ campaign to get more people donating to keep up with the demand in charity shops. Charities that are participating in the campaign include: British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross, Cancer Research UK, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Oxfam, Shelter, Sue Ryder and YMCA.
“The unused and unwanted items in people’s homes are worth millions of pounds to charities, and we hope the ‘Choose Charity Shops’ campaign will act as a reminder to people that making a donation of unused clothing or goods to their local charity shop is a great way to help charity when you don’t have cash to give,” Warren added.
However, around 15 per cent of those surveyed said that they now keep clothes for longer as they cannot afford to replace them. But those who can donate clothes and aren’t doing so blame it on either not getting round to sorting them out, not having enough time to do so or simply because they haven’t thought about it – something which the campaign is hoping to change.
Do you regularly donate unwanted clothes to charity shops or are you one of the 300 people who prefer to sell your clothes to earn the money for yourself?
