Scottish charity shops buck downturn on the high street

Senior News Reporter

Tuesday 17 January 2012

PEOPLE are increasingly turning to charity shops in the economic downturn, with sales rising by up to 10%.

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MARTIN WILLIAMS

The new figures come as major high street retailers continue to suffer from the squeeze.

However, there has been a drop in donations, as people are hanging on to their older goods, and monetary donations to some charities have also dropped.

Barnardo's Scotland's 68 shops reported a 10% year-on-year hike in sales last year, while Shelter Scotland said turnover at its 34 shops rose by 8.5% in December.Oxfam said its second-hand shop sales were up 3.5% last year and revenue from the 27 outlets in Scotland run by the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) rose by 1.32%. The Charity Retail Association, which says outlets raise more than £200 million for UK charities each year, says the profit increases have come despite difficulties in generating good quality saleable stock. Oxfam reported a 14% drop in goods donations to shops last year.The outlook is bleak elsewhere on the high street, with outlets such as Tesco, HMV, Game, Mothercare and Argos owner Home Retail Group providing gloomy sales updates. Tesco last week issued its first profits warning in 20 years after the chain's festive sales were the worst in a decade. HMV recorded a sales drop of 8.8%, Game's revenues fell by 12.9%, Mothercare sales declined by 3% and John Lewis suffered a 2.2% dip in salesAlexandra Burden, of Barnardo's Scotland, said: "We believe the public are taking more advantage of low-cost, good quality goods during the current economic climate."Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: "The increase in sales is good news and raises vital funds at a time when funding for our national and local services is being cut."However, the shop sales gain has come as monetary donations to Shelter across Britain have been declining, dipping by nearly 2% year-on-year to £25m in 2010/11.The British Heart Founda-tion, which has more than 60 shops in Scotland, said its profits are nearly treble those 10 years ago. BHF retail director Mike Lucas said: "The recession has seen our sales grow – giving us the confidence to extend our network of BHF shops and furniture and electrical stores."Our main concern is keeping up with demand. The supply of stock is slowing, partly because consumers aren't updating their homes and wardrobes at the same rate and therefore donating second-hand items". Sarah Farquhar, Oxfam's head of retail brand, said: "Within the current climate of austerity we have seen a definite increase in the popularity of re-using. However the recession has also caused this worrying drop in donations."The Red Cross in Scotland said that while they do not have precise data, they believe their 56 stores experienced a higher rate of growth than most high street traders.Kevin Morgan, British Red Cross retail general manager for Scotland and the North of England, said: "It has not been easy to achieve this growth in the current economic climate." Research for the Charity Research Association, the representative body, has shown that more than one-third of people in Britain bought Christmas presents from charity shops.

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Scottish charity shops buck downturn on the high street

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