Embracing new ways of shopping to support hospice
Staff and volunteers are working hard and staying safe inside Rennie Grove charity shops. - Credit: Archant
With sources of income threatened, Rennie Grove Hospice Care’s retail and trading team turned to innovation and adaptation in response to the pandemic.
During lockdown all 28 of the charity’s shops closed, leaving a hole in vital funding for services local patients with life-limiting illnesses depend on.
Presented with the challenge of plugging that gap, the team looked to online methods. Now, donated items of the highest quality, both in fashion and collectibles, are available to purchase via the rejuvenated dedicated Rennie Grove eBay store and the brand new fashion store on Depop.
Deborah Gould, retail and trading director at Rennie Grove explained: “We’ve pulled together a collection of high-end label and vintage clothing pieces to create the ultimate charity shopping experience and put it all on our Depop shop. This means that, if you love window shopping online like I do, you can download the Depop app and search for ‘Styled by Rennie Grove’ and see our finest offerings.”
“Our eBay shop is like a high-end bric-a-brac shop experienced from the comfort of your own sofa – you never quite know what you’re going to find on there!” Deborah added.
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The charity’s shops in Harpenden and Fleetville are also now open, and there are plans for the Victoria Street shop to open in August.
Assistant manager at the Harpenden shop Paula Gower said: “When the shop opened, many customers expressed how much they had missed the staff and the experience of browsing our items.
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“We’re really pleased customers have embraced our new safety systems and have been observing social distancing so closely. Our donors have supported our designated days for donating on Tuesdays and Saturdays to enable us to quarantine them for 72 hours, which means we can handle them and sell them safely. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to turn kind donations away, even on a Tuesday or Saturday, because we don’t have space to store them. We know this isn’t ideal but thank everyone for their understanding.”
Find Rennie Grove online at: depop.com/styledbyrenniegrove and ebay.co.uk/str/renniegrovehospicecare
And keep up to date with which shops are open at renniegrove.org/shops.
