Hospice begins to reopen its charity shops

Volunteers at the newly-reopened Wigan and Leigh Hospice charity shop

The Hindley-based charity will re-open its network of stores one at a time to make sure they are safe for the 400-strong team of volunteers.

Customers coming through the doors will, inevitably, find the Lord Street shop a different place to the one they remember from before the coronavirus pandemic.

WLH retail manager Anna Hart said: “It is fantastic to be able to reopen the first of our shops and we are delighted to have our volunteers back.

“Some changes have been made: Perspex has been installed around the till area and our volunteers have been trained to ensure we are taking appropriate safety measures.

“We are all really excited to welcome customers back again and to give them a safe space to shop with us.

“We have also welcomed back our e-shop volunteers this week who will make a huge difference to the income we raise for the hospice.”

Unlike many charity shops those run by the hospice are entirely in the hands of volunteers supported by a small team of staff.

Kate Gaynor, head of income generation for WLH, said: “We are very lucky to have shops run entirely by hard-working and dedicated volunteers and I am pleased to see them beginning to return to their roles.

“The staff and volunteers have been working hard behind the scenes to get the shop ready and I am looking forward to seeing more of our shops open in the near future.

“Our Lord Street shop will be able to accept donations of furniture and electrical items so we’re hoping the community will be as supportive as it has always been and bring those items down to the shop.

“We do have to ask, however, that no other donations are brought along as we are not yet able to deal with those safely.

“As a charity we absolutely rely on donations and are very excited that we are starting the process of re-opening our shops and raising funds to help some of the most vulnerable people in our community.”

The Leigh shop will be open Monday to Saturday between 10am and 1pm.

The hospice is still selling donated items on Ebay, Depop, Discogs and Facebook Marketplace.