Charity Shop - United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The first Oxfam charity shop in the United Kingdom was established in Broad Street, Oxford, and began trading in December 1947 (although the shop itself did not open until February 1948). Oxfam opened some of the first charity shops.

However, pre-dating this, one of the first Red Cross shops was opened at 17 Old Bond Street, London, as early as 1941. In total, over two hundred “permanent” (for the duration of the war) Red Cross gift shops and about 150 temporary Red Cross shops were opened during the war years. A condition of the shop licence issued by the Board of Trade was that all goods offered for sale were gifts. Purchase for re-sale was forbidden. The entire proceeds from sales had to be passed to the Duke of Gloucester’s Red Cross and St John Fund. Most premises were lent free of rent and in some cases owners also met the costs of heating and lighting.

There is also evidence that the Wolverhampton Society for the Blind (now called the Beacon Centre for the Blind) opened up a shop in Wolverhampton in 1899 to sell goods made by blind people to raise money for the Society.

During World War I, similar fund-raising activities occurred such as a bazaar in Shepherd Market, London, which made £50,000 for the Red Cross.

Oxfam has the largest number of charity shops in the UK with over 700 stores. Many Oxfam shops also sell books, and the organization now operates over 70 specialist Oxfam Bookshops, making them the largest retailer of second-hand books in Britain. Other Oxfam affiliates also have stores, such as Jersey, Germany, Ireland (45 shops in NI/ROI), the Netherlands and Hong Kong.

Other charities with a strong presence on high streets in the UK include YMCA, British Heart Foundation, Barnardos, Cancer Research UK, Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, Age UK (formerly Age Concern and Help the Aged), Oxfam, Save the Children, Scope and Sue Ryder Care. Many local hospices also operate charity shops to raise funds.

There are over 9,000 charity shops in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Their locations can be found on the Charity Retail Association (CRA) website, along with information on charity retail, what shops can and can't accept, etc. The CRA is a member organisation for charities which run shops.

British charity shops are mainly staffed by unpaid volunteers, with a paid shop manager. Goods for sale are predominantly from donations - 87% according to the official estimate. Donations should be taken directly to a charity shop during opening hours, as goods left on the street may be stolen or damaged by passers-by or inclement weather. In expensive areas, donations include a proportion of good quality designer clothing and charity shops in these areas are sought out for cut-price fashions.

'Standard' charity shops sell a mix of clothing, books, music and bric-a-brac (like cutlery and ornaments). Some shops specialise in certain areas, like vintage clothing, furniture, electrical items, or records.

Almost all charity shops sell on their unsold textiles (i.e. unfashionable, stained or damaged fabric) to textile processors. Each charity shop saves an average or 40 tonnes of textiles every year, by selling them in the shop, or passing them on to these textile merchants for recycling or reuse. This grosses to around 363,000 tonnes across all charity shops in the UK; based on 2010 landfill tax value at £48 per tonne, the value of textiles reused or passed for recycling by charity shops in terms of savings in landfill tax is £17,424,000 p.a.

Gift Aid is a UK tax incentive for individual donors where, subject to a signed declaration being held by the charity, income tax paid on donations can be reclaimed by the charity. Although initially intended only for cash donations, the scheme now (since 2006) allows tax on the income earned by charity shops acting as agent for the donor to be reclaimed. Sue Ryder Care was the first to 'Gift Aid' its donations with a pioneering new system developed with Eproductive Ltd.

Charity shops in the UK get mandatory 80% relief on business rates on their premises, which is funded by central government (not by local ratepayers) and is one illustration of their support for the charity sector and the role of charity shops in raising funds for charities. Charities can apply for discretionary relief on the remaining 20%, which is an occasional source of criticism from retailers which have to pay in full.