Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Hospice opening new flagship store
JUDITH TONNER
St Andrew’s Hospice is opening a new flagship store in Airdrie – specialising in furniture and new homewares and boutique fashion – as it begins reopening i t s retail outlets following lockdown.
Opening on Monday, the new store is located in the former Burton building on South Bridge Street in the town centre and will have a huge range of second-hand furniture on its lower floor, while upstairs houses new homewares, bedding plus the new Runway collection of clothing and accessories.
The charity is also reopening its warehouse at Stirling Road industrial estate on the same day for items to be handed over at pre- booked times, while a drive- through donating facility will also be set up in the hospice’s car park from next week.
Staff and volunteers have been working for months on the new home store, which will also offer personal shopping experiences
Hospice retail manager Irene Viola told the Advertiser: “The new store has furniture on the ground floor, and upstairs is our boutique with exclusive new clothes, accessories, bedding and homewares.
“Everyone has worked really hard and is excited for Monday – we’ve been recruiting volunteers, getting donations and the new collection in place, and lots of contractors and supporters of the hospice have really helped to get the place ready for opening.
“We hope customers will come along and that people will be interested in all the new products.
“It all goes to patient care as the hospice has a target of raising £100,000 per week and we hope this will help with that.”
She added: “We’re also offering personal shopping experiences for six to eight people on Thursday evenings – we can maintain social distancing, and we’re trying to encourage people who work during the day to get the chance to see the store, or who have shielded or are nervous about coming when it’s busier.”
The hospice retail team have spent months working on the safe reopening of their shops and donation process, with protective equipment for the 400 volunteers across its 14 shops, safety and social distancing advice for customers and a three- day quarantine period for all donations.
Ai rdr ie’s shop and warehouse will be the first to reopen, followed by the St Andrew’s shops in Wishaw, Hamilton and Blantyre on August 10; then Bellshill and Lanark on August 17, and Uddingston, Larkhall and Strathaven on August 31.
The Coatbridge branch will reopen on September 1 as both it and the East Kilbride store undergo refurbishments; while the hospice’s smallest shop units, at Hallcraig Street in Airdrie and in Motherwell, are not reopening at this time as their size prevents effective social distancing.
Irene said: “We’re staggering the reopenings because safety is paramount and we need to make sure that all our hundreds of volunteers are comfortable and secure.
“We are doing everything possible to make sure that it’s safe.
“Every single item which is donated is quarantined for 72 hours; and we’re appealing to the public not to dump donations at shop doors.
“We’ll have a drive- in donation drop zone in the hospice car park from Monday for clothes and small items like toys or small electrical goods, which will be open Monday to Thursday from 10am to 2pm; and people can book time slots to drop larger donations at the warehouse from 9am to 2pm on weekdays.”
Appointments to donate at the Stirling Road warehouse can be arranged by calling 01236 765678; while personal shopping groups can call 01236 758729 to arrange an exclusive session at the new Airdrie boutique and furniture store.