Charity which lost £2 million during lockdown to reopen Market Drayton shop next week
A Shropshire charity shop will once again be selling bargain clothes and accessories to help disabled and terminally ill children from next week.
Newlife is preparing to reopen its shop in Cheshire Street, Market Drayton, from Tuesday.
The charity helps fund vital equipment for disabled and terminally ill children and is urging people across the county to come out and support the shop when it reopens, with Newlife facing a loss of income during the lockdown period of about £2 million.
Final preparations are being made to ensure it is Covid-secure and that staff and shoppers are safe when it reopens.
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Newlife has been gradually reopening its network of seven stores, including its flagship superstore and home store in Cannock and satellite store in Yardley, Birmingham, which were all closed for three months during lockdown.
The closures due to the coronavirus lockdown meant income from the stores virtually ceased overnight, though the charity continued to help children throughout lockdown.
Darren Smith, acting shop manager in Market Drayton, said: “We can’t wait to finally welcome back shoppers. It’s been almost four months since we closed the doors and after a difficult period for everyone since the start of lockdown, we hope people will turn out to support us so we can keep helping the families who need us most.
“Our staff and volunteers will be wearing personal protective equipment and Government-advised measures will be introduced throughout the shop so customers can browse our range of quality items safely.
“The store will reopen at 9.30am on Tuesday – we hope to see you there for our grand reopening.”
Extra aisle space will be in place so there is more room to shop and social distancing rules will be in place to protect both customers and staff.
The store will be open to shoppers between Tuesday and Saturday next week.
Full details of the opening and closing hours at all of the charity’s stores can be found at newlifestores.co.uk.
The charity operates the country’s only charity-run emergency equipment response service which aims to get specialist equipment to families in crisis anywhere in the UK within 72 hours.
Newlife also provides grants of equipment including specialist beds, car seats, wheelchairs and buggies to improve the quality of life of disabled children and campaigns for change in national and local policies affecting the provision of specialist disability equipment for children.
It also operates a nurse-run helpline and loans specialist toys to families through its Play Therapy Pods.
More than 240 leading high street retailers and manufacturers donate surplus items, faulty products and customer returns to Newlife, which prevents them from ending up in landfill.
Labels are removed from items to protect retailers from fraudulent returns and the charity then sells them on at much reduced prices.
