Charity shops must move online if they are to continue helping people in need during the pandemic, volunteers have warned.
According to The Charity Retail Association (CRA), there are more than 11,000 charity shops in the UK.
Some charitable organisations like Oxfam and the British Red Cross are now available online via eBay.
A volunteer who works with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) said:
“Organisations definitely have to work on moving their shops online, at least during national lockdown ”
During the third national lockdown, charity shops yet again closed their doors to customers as all “non- essential” retail closed.
One charity shop worker said that not everyone was eager to follow the rules when shops were open:
“It may be surprising but dealing with ignorance became my everyday job, apparently it’s very hard for people to wear a mask and follow rules of social distancing, that is why we are closed”
One of the volunteers explained that charity shops are losing a “huge amount” of money every month which could help a lot of people in need.
The volunteer, who asked not to be identified, said that “charity shops should be considered essential” during national lockdowns.
While some volunteers from Birmingham think that it’s not necessary to close every charity shop, others believe that it was the right decision to shut everything down in order to keep people safe.
“Even though charity shops are affected in the most negative way during [a]lockdown, I’m sure it’s absolutely necessary to listen to our government”.
