Joe Mitty - Oxfam and The Oxfam Charity Shop

Oxfam and The Oxfam Charity Shop

Joe Mitty was hired directly by Oxfam founder, Cecil Jackson-Cole, in 1947. Mitty was instructed to meet Jackson-Cole in the lobby of the Grosvenor Hotel, in Victoria with a handkerchief over his face. He was also told to address anyone who approached him with the question, "Are you Mr Jackson-Cole?" Mitty was hired at the hotel by Jackson-Cole and received a starting salary of a little over £8 per week. This made Mitty Oxfam's first paid employee. He received a starting salary of a little over £8 per week.

Mitty's initial role at Oxfam was to oversee the distribution of donated clothing to Europeans who had been left impoverished during World War II. However, Oxfam soon saw an untapped financial potential in selling the donated clothing rather than just sending the donations to Europe. This would allow Oxfam to "to become a shop that sold everything but bought nothing," to quote The Telegraph. Proceeds from the sales of the donated goods would be used to fund Oxfam's charitable goals.

Mitty's motto for the first gift shop was "If you donate it, we can sell it." Some of the more unusual items that Mitty sold were used false teeth and a live donkey. The store only made £500 during its first year of operation, but by 1953, just four years after the shop had opened, it brought in a £10,000 a year profit.

Mitty's success with the first Oxfam shop gave him the opportunity to oversee and open several more charity shops throughout Britain by the early 1960s. His growing success at Oxfam allowed him to recruit a number of celebrities including Harry Secombe who helped to draw attention to Oxfam's work. By 1971, Mitty's Oxfam charity shops were making over £1 million and had become the largest charity shop chain in the country.

Joe Mitty officially retired from Oxfam in 1982, though he continued to work as an Oxfam ambassador. In 2006, he appeared with Victoria Beckham at an Oxfam charity shop in Notting Hill where she presented him with an award and he sold her a black dress for £19.99 as part of a campaign to draw attention to Oxfam's work. He also worked with the 20,000 volunteers who run Britain's over 700 Oxfam charity shops.

Mitty was awarded an MBE in 2003 for his work with the Oxfam charity shops and service to Oxfam. In 2006, the then Prime Minister Tony Blair presented Mitty with a lifetime achievement award at the ITV-Daily Mirror Pride of Britain event. Blair declared to the audience that if Mitty had worked in the private sector he would have been a multi-millionaire. Carol Vorderman, a British television presenter, also called Mitty "the grandfather of British charity shops" at the same awards.