A charity shop in Cheshire has discovered that moving its merchandise outdoors one day a week dramatically increases sales - a breakthrough that will surely stun anyone who has ever walked past a market stall.
Audlem Charity Shop, staffed by roughly 35 volunteers, used to open Monday through Saturday and scrape together a few hundred pounds per week. Now, by trading only on Saturdays and displaying donated goods on outdoor stalls, it rakes in between £1,200 and £1,500 per day, and over £2,000 when the village has events on.
"I think the attraction is we are like a cross between a giant boot fair and a market stall, and people love it," said vice chair Sheila Julian, apparently unaware that she just described the business model of every outdoor market in human history.
Chair Helen Beardshall noted the shop used to be "lucky to take £400 per week." The transformation began during the pandemic when market stalls were allowed to resume trading, leading Julian to suggest to another volunteer the radical idea of selling items outside.
As the experiment grew, so did the takings - "huge" is the technical term Julian used. People love to rummage, love a bargain, and apparently love items that catch their eye as they drive past. Only truly terrible weather deters trading, with slightly shorter hours in winter.
"On two occasions last year we took over £2,000 on one day, which is just incredible," said Beardshall, adding that customers now come from "far and wide" to experience this outdoor shopping phenomenon.
Some items are also sold online or taken to auction. "We have some fabulous donations," Julian said, noting that quality goods allow them to "put good prices on things, and hence we make the money."
The volunteer team is "immensely proud" of their efforts, and hearing how the money helps local health-related charities - with St Luke's Hospice Cheshire as the biggest beneficiary - "spurs you on to make more."