– We didn’t expect this – admitted Arkadiusz Skrzypiński, an employee of the marketing company who helped Sue Ryder Foundation open the first charity store in Szczecin, in an interview with money.pl. Deal with procedures related to opening up and receiving the first gifts.
– People were lining up on the sidewalk to enter. Due to restrictions, only 11 people can stay at the & nbspshop. However, customers were waiting anyway – telling about the first day of the store’s operation. Then about 500 clients visited it.
The concept of the charity store is not recent – such points appeared in Great Britain in the nineteenth century, the idea came to Poland in the nineties of the twentieth century.
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However, the idea has become really popular in Vistula quite recently. There are more than ten such stores in Warsaw, most of which have been launched in recent years.
Information from money.pl shows that the first charity store in & nbspcentrum will open soon – & nbsp Sue Ryder Foundation is opening its nbspWestfield Arkadia point at & nbspWarsaw. The store could have opened in March, but the shutdown has turned into an obstacle.
Charity shops are also opening outside the big cities. A few days ago, a store called “Kawałek Podłogi” opened in Nowodworz in the Tarnów district.
Charity store. what is he talking about?
Usually, these stores are run by foundations and not private companies. The goods do not come from the wholesaler, but from the donors.
– Everyone can bring things they don’t need, Skrzypiński says. Most often these are clothes, books, or home accessories. However, in a store in Szczecin you can also find large TV, screens or audio devices.
All the things they donate are sold at reasonable prices. what kind? You can get shirts or books for a few zlotys, cups or plates for 2 PLN. Electronics is more expensive, but the prices are also a bargain. Sony TV is available for PLN 400.
Proceeds from the sale go to charity – in the case of a store in Szczecin, to an association that helps children with Down syndrome.
According to Skrzypiński, by cooperating with these stores, you can not only help the needy, but the environment as well. Because it is better to hand over unnecessary things than to throw them in the garbage.
The Sue Ryder Foundation, which currently has six stores in Poland, says it annually “saves” about 50 tons of the articles it receives from donors.
As the store staff say, it also happens that donors come up with brand new things – and this rarely happens.
Charity shops are not intended to make a profit, so they usually expect help from authorities, usually local governments. Skrzypiński admits that the Szczecin authorities granted the building to the shop “on preferential terms.”
Volunteers help too. Acceptance of items from donors. The store only has one full-time cashier, but he’s already thinking of another.
Board games on clothes
Representatives of charities say that a lot has happened in this sector recently. However, the potential for developing this concept remains great. At the moment, there are no more than a few dozen such stores in Poland. There are more than 10,000 of them in Great Britain.
Even so, shopkeepers acknowledge that interest might have been greater had it not been for the pandemic.
In the Kopalnia store in Warsaw, which has been operating for more than two years, we hear that the number of visitors is slightly less than it was before the pandemic. On the other hand, online sales are growing, for example through well-known classifieds sites.
Post-closings also affect what customers look for in charity stores.
Of course, what we find most of the time is clothes. However, it has been evident for a year that people kept indoors often search for books and board games for themselves, so that they can spend time at home with their children – we hear in the mine.
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