Category: Retail

East Cheshire Hospice is hoping for another merry Christmas with sales of its festive cards. East Cheshire Hospice raises between £15,000 to £20,000 each year from supporters buying Christmas cards.  The Hospice reluctantly halved its stock a year ago, with fewer locations open to sell cards during the pandemic.

But this year Christmas cards – costing £4 for packs of 10 – are available again at all usual outlets, along with pocket diaries at £2.

The items can be bought at the Hospice shops in Thornton Square, Macclesfield, Handforth and Poynton. Macclesfield Library and Wilmslow Library, along with Knutsford Cinema, are also now selling them until Saturday, December 4.

Cards can also be bought from the Hospice reception, although East Cheshire Hospice is requesting that customers only go there if necessary to keep visitor numbers to a minimum.

Cards can also be ordered via the Hospice’s website, or leaflets which have been distributed to supporters. Delivery charges will apply to cover admin costs for postal sales.

Commercial Manager Louise Delany said: “Our Christmas cards are always big sellers and are a great way to support the Hospice.  “They’re excellent quality with nice designs and we’d urge customers to hurry up and buy them because certain designs do sell out quickly.

“We sold out quickly last year when we had to halve our order because of Covid. “We’re asking people to try to visit our shops, or libraries, if they want to buy cards in person.

“Of course, they’re still welcome to come into the Hospice on Millbank Drive, but we’re encouraging people only to come in if they can’t get to other locations.”

That message is echoed by Clair Close, a Hospice volunteer for 15 years. Clair, from Macclesfield, started off in the Hospice’s choir. For the last seven years she has helped on reception and is also an admin volunteer for the medical team.

Hospice volunteer Clair Close shows off  the range of Christmas cards.

Clair said: “Our Christmas cards are always popular and we’ve already had a lot of interest this year. I enjoy volunteering here – it’s such a wonderful place and the money raised from the cards goes directly towards caring for our patients.”

Bargain furniture is helping fund patient care at East Cheshire Hospice.

The Hospice 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 Hospice’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.

Left, Lindsay McDonald, assistant manager at the East Cheshire Hospice shop at Thornton Square, with commercial manager Louise Delany

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 co-ordinator Michele Slack can be contacted on 01625 409647 to arrange collections, or visit www.eastcheshirehospice.org.uk/furniture 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 said: “We’d love to have ornaments with some age to them. It doesn’t have to be antique.”

Charity shops run by East Cheshire Hospice are back in business with a new-style operation.

 

Their long-awaited return after being closed for more than three months has brought an amazing response from both donors and customers.

The Hospice is using its premises on Chestergate as a distribution centre and is the only shop where donations of clothes, bric a brac and electrical goods can be taken.

An advance booking system means items are donated in a safe and controlled manner.

Goods are quarantined for 72 hours before delivery to shops at Thornton Square and Handforth, both of which reopened for sales to the public early last week.

Strict social distancing guidelines are followed at both shops and only card payments accepted. Opening hours are reduced from 10 am to 4 pm and fitting rooms closed.

Stock will not be sold at the Chestergate shop until further notice.

 

Commercial manager Louise Delany said: “It’s good to be back and we’d like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding during Covid-19.  It’s been a tough few months but hopefully with the support of our customers, we can start clawing back the revenue lost when the shops were closed.

“We’ve got some great bargains in our shops and our donation system is working extremely well with donors cooperating brilliantly. We’re opening our Thornton Square shop on Sundays on a trial basis.”

The Hospice can only accept a maximum of four bags for each allocated slot and cannot receive books, CDs, DVDs, toys and soft toys.

 

Bookings via 01625 511997 can be made between 10 am and 3 pm and use of Gift Aid will further support the charity.

The same telephone number can be used to arrange collection of unwanted furniture. Michele Slack has started her new role as furniture co-ordinator/assistant manager.

She said: “We’re on the lookout for good quality furniture. We were desperate to get the shops up and running again and huge numbers have donated items since we began accepting them late last month. Many donors said they held on to stuff because they wanted to give it to the Hospice.”

 

Lindsay McDonald, Thornton Square assistant manager, said: “Trade has been booming since we opened our doors and customers were so happy to see us back. We’ve had a lot of new customers as well.”

 

A new Hospice shop is expected to open in Poynton in September.