Where You Can Find 10 Charity Shops in One Old Department Store
The best charity shops in London are those treasure troves full of amazing second hand finds. Usually you meander from shop to shop exploring all the second-hand fashion charities have to offer.
But a new initiative from Charity Super.Mkt is bringing 10 charities under the same roof in London at Brent Cross shopping centre on 27 January 2023. The pop up event lasts for four weeks.
In doing so, it claims to the the UK's first ever multi-charity shop where both national and local charities have come together to make a "multi-charity department store".
Charity Shops Come Together Under One Roof
Which Charity Shops will be at Brent Cross?
You will be able to find all 10 of these charity shops all in one shop:
- Shelter
- Barnardo's
- Cancer Research UK
- TRAID
- Marie Curie
- Havens Hospices
- Emmaus
- Spitalfields Crypt Trust
- All Aboard
- Age UK
It will be really interesting to see how all the items are curated. Will all the stock be mixed together with labels on items from each charity? Are talking big rails by colour? Or grouped as similar items?
After all, Charity Super.Mkt will have a whole Topshop store to play with!
Who Founded Charity Super.Mkt?
Charity Super.Mkt was founded by Wayne Hemingway, founder of Red or Dead as well as Hemingway Design, and Maria Chenoweth, CEO of TRAID.
“Charity shops are no longer a signal of decline in our town centres; they represent a powerful and positive movement towards the circular economy and a future that is being wholeheartedly embraced by consumers and contributes hundreds of millions of pounds to our economy, and good causes." Wayne Hemingway.
It really is great how more people are falling in love with preloved fashion. Finally we are breaking apart the stigma of wearing 'second-hand clothes' or 'charity shop garms', instead embracing second-hand as something that is just as fashionable as buying brand new.
Shopping second-hand with social enterprises, charities and other for-purpose organisations takes it all one step further, though. Not only are you doing good for the planet while saving money, you're also helping people.
Maria Chenoweth said: “Having been in charity retail for over 30 years, being part of the first ever charity retail collaboration in an old fast-fashion Topshop store is iconic. Charity Super.Mkt hits circular economy and sustainability aspirations, whilst also hitting the cost-of-living crisis.
“Charity retail is the understated best of sustainable business, there is no better example of a green circular economy in action at this scale.”
Read More: Why the Circular Economy is Important
Celebrating our Second-hand Shopping Spaces
Isn't it so easy to shop preloved clothing online now? But in doing so you lose the thrill of physically digging through the racks and rails! While we have to be careful to wean ourselves off fast fashion habits in those ever so shiny floored shops, it still is a nice experience to meet your new-to-you clothes in person!
It can be more convenient to browse a rail, pick up a top and try on a pair of shoes when it's right there in front of you.
But sometimes the experience of trying to find clothing in a crowded shop, laid out all haphazardly can be pretty awful. And for some people it's inaccessible.
Which is why it is good to see a group of charity shops going into a big London department store, previously filled to the rafter with new fast fashion.
Just imagine if there was a big charity shop or second hand store in all the big shopping centres across the UK! You would then have the immediate choice of buying preloved versus brand new side by side.
And this isn't to knock the perfectly-enjoyable activity of hunting down a new charity or second hand shop. That's perfectly fun too. But bigger stores would mean you're much more likely to find something you're looking for, in your size and with more options.
So, what do you think? If there was a selection of charity shops, or just a much bigger second hand shop in a shopping centre near you, would you go?
