Hope House Hospice's Shrewsbury shop to move to bigger premises
A hospice is moving its Shrewsbury town centre shop to a bigger store in a move prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Hope House children's hospice runs 14 shops across Shropshire, Cheshire, Mid and North Wales which provide a vital contribution to the £6.5 million needed every year to fund its services to children and families.
Bosses have announced its Shrewsbury store in Shoplatch will be moving to a unit almost twice the size next to Percy Thrower’s Garden Centre in Oteley Road.
They say it will complement the hospice's other store in the town – a furniture shop on the Lancaster Retail Park, which has been operating as a general store since reopening last month.
The hospice's commercial director, Andrew Fergus, said it was exciting to be moving to a much more spacious store, where better access will make it easier to comply with new measures to keep customers, volunteers and staff safe.
The new store also benefits from free parking, making it easier for supporters to drive up and drop off donations.
He said: "One of our key safety measures is to isolate all donations of stock for 72 hours before sorting, and this was just not practical in the town centre store.
"Our new premises will have plenty of room for social distancing and hand sanitizing stations too.
“Our two members of staff have both been offered roles in the new store and we hope that many of our existing volunteers will be able to join us, as well as new volunteers.”
Work will begin shortly to equip the new store for a grand opening in September.
Hope House operates hospices in Morda and Tŷ Gobaith in North Wales.
For more information on its stores, fundraising opportunities and ways to donate visit hopehouse.org.uk
