Bargain store helps furnish vital funding
BARGAIN furniture is helping fund patient care at East Cheshire Hospice.
The charity generates around £10,000 a month from selling recycled furniture generously donated by the public.
The scheme is so popular the Hospice is now appealing for even more offers of unwanted furniture items.
The goods are on display at the charity’s Thornton Square shop in Macclesfield, and its shops in Handforth and Poynton.
Furniture is often snapped up by bargain hunters as soon as it appears in stores and is advertised on the shops’ Facebook pages and Facebook Marketplace.
The only condition for accepting furniture is that it is clean and sellable and has no scratches, unless of antique value.
Commercial manager Louise Delany said: “Furniture gets sold almost immediately and is extremely profitable for us. That revenue is vital to allow us to provide care for our patients, their families and carers free of charge.
“It costs £7,500 a day to run the Hospice, so the furniture revenue alone pays for well over a day’s care each month.
“We want to thank our donors for thinking of the Hospice when they’re replacing furniture and our message is that if more people have goods they want to donate, then we’re more than happy to take items from them.
“Customers are delighted when they upcycle something because it saves the environment, saves money and also supports the Hospice at a time when we urgently need help, especially as our income fell during the pandemic.”
Hospice furniture coordinator Michele Slack can be contacted on 01625 409647 to arrange collections, or you can visit the www. eastcheshirehospice.org.uk furniture donation page.
Furniture sales can be made over the telephone.
Volunteer van drivers collect and deliver furniture six days a week. Collections are free, with a £25 fee for deliveries.
Louise said: “We have a mix of retro and modern furniture and anything made of pine is always popular.
“Our van will go to anywhere the Hospice serves, which is a wide area.”
The charity’s ECHO shop in Poynton, which opened almost a year ago, has been a huge success generally and now has an antique corner and sells retro bric-a-brac.
Louise added: “We’d love to have ornaments with some age to them. It doesn’t have to be antique.”