A NEW charity superstore has welcomed in hundreds of customers over the weekend after officially opening on Saturday.
The St Richard’s Hospice superstore opened on Saturday, July 5, in Stourport’s Tannery Retail Park, Lombard Street.
The store is the Worcestershire hospice’s biggest, and will help the charity generate the funds it needs to continue its care for patients with incurable illnesses and support for their loved ones.
A wide variety of quality, preloved clothing, furniture, homeware, books and much more is on sale in the store, which is open Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm, and Sundays from 10.30am to 4.30pm.
Dan Corns, Associate Director of Retail Operations for St Richard’s, said: “We’ve loved seeing shoppers enjoying the new retail space after months of hard work preparing to open. Our thanks go to everyone involved in getting the shop ready, including our volunteers.
“Since the store’s preview night on Friday, we have served more than 480 customers and sold more than 1,400 items helping raise the funds we need for our free palliative and end-of-life care.
“We simply couldn’t continue our services without the income raised by our shops and fundraising activities. Our new superstore will play an important part in helping secure our future, at a financially challenging time for hospices nationally.”
St Richard’s cares for patients from the Stourport area, and across the county, on its specialist In-patient Unit based at the hospice in Worcester.
Across all its services, the hospice supports more than 3,100 patients, family members, and bereaved people in Worcestershire each year.
It will cost in the region of £12m to run the hospice this year, which includes patient care and all the necessary support services.
Cutting the ribbon to open the superstore was Stourport resident David Bishop, who was cared for on the hospice’s In-patient Unit (IPU) earlier this year.
Mr Bishop said: “I was admitted to the hospice in December last year expected to die.
“Five weeks later I came out on crutches and I am here today. I still have hurdles to overcome, but my ‘never give up still I rise’ attitude means the story isn’t closed just yet.
“St Richard’s is a special place, with a team of special people, that survives mostly on donations. I owe them my life.”
The charity’s longest serving volunteer June Sankey, who has supported the hospice for more than 41 years, and Head of the hospice’s IPU Caitlyn Adkins also cut the ribbon.
The superstore is now accepting donations during opening hours of items in a good condition for resale.
The sale of donated goods helps the charity raise the funds it needs to continue its care. Find out more about donating items: www.strichards.org.uk/our-shops/donate-goods