All of our shops have been temporarily closed in order to support the nationwide effort to control the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and protect our staff, volunteers, and supporters.
In line with government advice, some of our stores will re-open from April 12th. You can find an up-to-date list of the community and Mary's Living & Giving shops reopening below. If your local shop remains closed, please keep checking back as we will continue to open shops after April 12th.
“We will continue to operate our shops in the same way we were through the latter part of last year, maintaining the risk mitigation measures we have put in place to keep our shops safe." commented Ian Matthews, Trading Director.
“The safety of our people, supporters and communities are at the heart of our decisions.”
Signage will remain in place to help manage social distancing in our stores. Protective measures such as the use of screens at cash desks, regular cleaning routines and the supply of hand sanitiser for staff, volunteers and supporters will also remain in place to ensure a safe shopping environment.
(Click here for our full health and safety statement)
Making a Donation
Your preloved items will be hugely appreciated once we're back up and running, so please do hold onto anything you wish to donate until then.
The approach to accepting donations will be different for each shop, depending on storage facilities and opening hours so please call ahead when you’re ready to donate to check the best time for your local store.
Please be mindful when making donations to our shops, items need to be resellable and in a good condition. We cannot sell anything, broken, dirty, incomplete or unsafe.
Type of donations we can accept:
Good quality, second-hand clothing
Designer & Vintage items
Accessories including handbags, paired shoes, belts, ties and jewellery
Quality homeware such as glassware, ornaments and kitchenware
Books, CDs, DVDs, games and blu-rays
Good quality toys, jigsaws and games
There are some items that unfortunately we cannot take:
Broken, incomplete or damaged items
Large household items such as duvets, pillows & curtains etc.
Furniture
Real Fur
Sports & Safety Equipment such as crash helmets, cycling helmets or child car seats etc.
Some shops will accept electrical items, but please check beforehand.
Charity shop etiquette
Call Ahead - If possible, please ring ahead of making the trip to the shop to make a donation. We rely heavily on our volunteer teams to help run our shops & sometimes our opening times may alter due to volunteer availability. By calling ahead you can check that your local shop is open & able to accept your donation.
Donate within our opening hours – We need all your donations but please do not leave donations outside the shop as we have to bin these items or pay for them to be removed.
Please respect our volunteers & staff – In line with government guidelines we ask that you wear a face covering whilst in our shops unless you are exempt from doing so.
Social Distancing - We may also ask you to wait outside a shop to limit the customer numbers inside the store. We are doing this to provide a safe shopping environment within our shops at all times so please be patient if you are asked to wait.
Gift Aid
If you are a UK taxpayer, you may be asked if you want to Gift Aid your donation: this means that the charity can receive an extra 25p from the Government, for every £1 they raise from selling your goods.
Online Shop
If you are unable to visit us in person, you can find our online shop here. All the products in our online shop are sourced from independent, ethical producers and 100% of the profits go towards helping change the future for children.
You can also visit our new DePop shop here
Volunteer with us
If you're interested in volunteering, we need your help now more than ever. To get involved, please complete the form here. If you can't find a volunteering opportunity near you yet, please check back in a week or two.
COMMUNITY SHOPS REOPENING INFORMATION
Please contact the following stores for details on opening hours and how to donate.
Allestree - April 14th
Bath - April 12th
Bournemouth - April 12th
Chester - April 12th
Christchurch - April 12th
Clapham - April 12th
Halesowen - April 12th
Haltwhistle Bookshop - April 12th
Hexham - April 13th
Kimberley - April 14th
Machynlleth - April 12th
Matlock - April 12th
Mold - April 12th
Northallerton - April 12th
Orpington - April 12th
Penrith - April 16th
Preston - April 12th
Sidmouth - April 12th
South Shields - April 12th
Stafford - April 12th
Stockton Heath - April 12th
Storrington - April 12th
Totnes - April 12th
West Bridgford - April 15th
Wetherby - April 12th
Whitby - April 12th
Windermere - April 12th
Woodstock - April 12th
MARY'S LIVING & GIVING REOPENING INFORMATION
The below Mary's Living & Giving shops will reopen on April 12th. Please contact the following stores for details on opening hours and how to donate.
Barnes
Bermondsey
Blackheath
Bristol
Chiswick
Ealing Green
East Dulwich
Fulham
Hampstead
Islington
Kew Village
Pinner
Portobello
Primrose Hill
Richmond
Stoke Newington
Teddington
Wimbledon Village
Windsor
