CROWDS flocked to the opening of a new hospice charity store in Barnards Green, Malvern, at the weekend.
The new St Richard’s Hospice shop at 110 to 112 Barnards Green Road opened to the public on Saturday, December 2. Cutting the ribbon to officially open the shop was regular hospice shop customer, Ian Humphries, a Worcestershire-based antiques dealer who features on BBC1’s The Bidding Room and The Vintage French Farmhouse.
The move to open the new shop follows the success of the hospice’s previous smaller store in the town, which was based in Court Road.
Esther Phillips, who manages the hospice’s Barnards Green shop, said: “It was a fantastic weekend! We welcomed regular and new customers who were delighted with the improved shopping experience in such a lovely, light and modern space.”
She added, “Ian did a great job, cutting the ribbon and chatting to shoppers, staff and volunteers. We’ve been really busy since we opened with lots of people popping in to buy our range of preloved clothing, bric-a-brac, accessories, books and giftware. Just in the first weekend we sold more than 900 items!”
“I would like to thank our volunteer team who helped make this move and opening possible and generous donors, whose quality, preloved goods are on sale in the shop to raise funds for our hospice care.”
The shop opens Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm, and on Sundays 10.00am to 4.00pm.
More volunteer support is needed to help run the shop, with tasks including customer service, preparing stock for sale, and visual merchandising.
Anyone interested in volunteering at the Barnards Green shop can pop-in to speak with the manager, Esther, or apply online
St Richard’s high street shops are the charity’s face within the community and last year the 17 shops welcomed more than 300,000 customers.
St Richard’s Hospice is an independent charity caring for adults with a serious progressive illness, improving their quality of life from diagnosis, during treatment to their last days and supporting those important to them.
Each year the hospice team supports more than 3,100 patients, family members and bereaved people in Worcestershire.
It costs £10.28m to run the hospice (22/23 audited accounts), which includes patient care and all the necessary support services.
St Richard’s relies on donations and gifts in Wills for the majority of its income with the remainder funded by the NHS.
