Multi-charity shop venture Charity Super.Mkt said today (2 December) it is planning to open at least three permanent stores in 2025 after announcing it had reached £3 million in revenue landmark in the first 22 months of operating.
Doors opened at its latest pop-up at the weekend, at Spitalfields Market in London, but the organisation is set to open up in Canary Wharf London, Edinburgh, and Leeds in the new year.
Charity Super.Mkt, which is a collaboration of multiple charities including Shelter, Havens Hospices, Cancer Research and Oxfam, and is led by Traid CEO Maria Chenoweth and designer Wayne Hemingway, has sold £3 million worth of second-hand fashion since opening its doors in January 2023. The venture has proved there is demand for preloved items in more prominent retail locations than previously tried, with the list of venues it operates in including Brent Cross and Bluewater shopping centres.
Charity Super.Mkt talked up the “kindness and generosity of retail landlords” for providing space in their centres. To date, the charity group has worked with Hammerson, INKGA, Landsec, and British Land, which all provide “modern and vibrant rent-free retail spaces” to facilitate the concept.
Chenoweth, co-founder & CEO of Charity Super.Mkt, commented: “Wow, it has been nearly two years since Charity Super.Mkt first opened its doors, and it is clear that it is still a much-loved concept today as it was when we started, where the collaboration of charities all under one roof still remains a hit with consumers.
“Charity Super.Mkt has worked with over 55 local and national charities, bringing new audiences and demographics to charity retail, from London’s Bond St to Glasgow, Bristol to Brent Cross. Hitting the £3 million income milestone is the icing on the cake, but our work doesn’t stop there – our mission remains pushing charity retail into the spaces and places it would otherwise not access, raising funds for their vital work both here in the UK and globally.”
Hemingway, whose was interviewed by Green Retail World last year, added: “When we first set out on this mission, we had no idea whether it would work.
“We cobbled together a name, a visual identity, repurposed a pile of shop fittings, and assembled eight retail charities together for a four-week experiment in a former Topshop store in Brent Cross which had been graffitied on with an anti-Philip Green staff on its walls. Within those four weeks, we showed how charity fashion deserves to be part of a modern retail offer, alongside the heavily-funded fast fashion brands with their marketing clout and retail infrastructure.”
He continued: “Now more than ever, fashion is evolving particularly amongst young people who are more conscious of making sustainable choices and seeking out good quality, pre-loved clothing, and turning it into re-loved fashion.”
The pop-up in Spitalfields Market opened on 28 November, and is operating in partnership with Traid and Havens Hospice. It will be open until the end of January 2025.
[image credit: Charity Super.Mkt]
