Shrewsbury sees another charity shop closure
Another charity shop in Shrewsbury has announced it is closing and relocating to more affordable premises with an online presence.
The doors of Shrewsbury Furniture Scheme’s Castle Street premises will shut for the last time towards the end of November.
The long-established charity says the unsettling economic environment makes it no longer viable to continue providing the community with a town centre presence.
So Shrewsbury Furniture Scheme’s Castle Street shop, which opened 11 years ago, will now suffer the same closure fate as a continually growing number of other town centre charity outlets.
It is the last independent second-hand furniture shop in the town and since it opened has provided much-needed support to the Shropshire community.
The charity scheme says there will be a large-scale sale throughout November with many furniture bargains on offer.
Announcing the Castle Street shop’s closure, chair of trustees Willie Strachan said today: “We are of course very sad to be closing down after all these years.
“But for our charity, as many others locally have already found, economic trading conditions have become extremely difficult.
“This is due to a number of financial reasons which are totally beyond our control. But together they contribute to making a prestigious town centre presence extremely difficult. In fact, now impossible for the future as we have discovered.
“However, we would like to express a big thank you to all our customers who have provided fantastic support of the Castle Street shop over the 11 years. And as they have supported us, we hope as a charity to have also played our part and helped them with much-needed quality second-hand furniture.”
All is not doom and gloom at the charity – Shrewsbury Furniture Scheme is today announcing an ambitious new on-line furniture shop to be called SFS Select.
And trustees hope the launch of an ambitious and original on-line furniture shop, which will be its premium product, will continue to provide the local community with on-going support.
For SFS Select will fill a gap between the former Castle Street shop and the charity’s long-standing warehouse at Unit 9b Hartleys Business Centre, Monkmoor Road, Shrewsbury.
The online shop will provide a new and different finance stream required for the scheme to continue supporting the local community.
Jayney Lawley, who has been managing the Castle Street shop for the last decade, today promised: “The new online shop, which will open in the New Year, will provide a wide range of similar quality furniture.
“Customers will be able to ring the online shop on 01743 236382 and a Whats App number 07899 545143 if they have seen an item they like on social media.
“The online shop SFS Select will be available to visit at no.7 Hartleys Business Centre, Monkmoor Road, from Monday to Friday if a customer has seen an item of interest on social media. The message is: give us a ring. We plan to open in the New Year.”
Renovation work is currently underway on the new online shop premises which will have its own workshop at the rear.
Jayney assured: “The Shrewsbury Furniture Scheme itself will continue to provide much-needed support to the communities of Shropshire as we have always done. Nothing in that respect has changed.
“And whilst we don’t expect scheme customers to visit the online shop except to see, try out and hopefully buy our top quality goods, we are hoping it will nevertheless provide the vital income required for SFS to continue its charitable effort.”
Both the warehouse at Unit 9b Hartleys Business Centre, Monkmoor Road and the online shop will continue to rely on volunteers.
Added Jayney, who will manage the new online shop: “The charity scheme currently has five volunteers in the warehouse and five in the Castle Street shop.
“But we continue to look for volunteers who can help us deliver our promises to those experiencing financial hardship and needing the vital back-up we offer. There are grants available for workshop courses.”
Willie Strachan added: “Our milestone has been achieved despite some extremely difficult trading conditions over the years and our board of trustees remain confident that this independent furniture charity will continue to provide a service for years to come for people experiencing financial hardship.”
