Top Shops
- To contact your local BHF shop call 0870 120 4141.
- BHF Shops volunteers now total more than 10,000 across the UK
Top shops
Our shops are at the frontline of the charity, giving us a real presence on high streets across the country and generating millions of pounds for the fight against heart and circulatory disease.
Action
Our 500 shops had a great year in 2005/06, serving over 20 million customers and selling 70,000 items every day. The public’s magnificent response to three major British Heart Foundation campaigns played a huge part in this success.
BHF Shops were the enthusiastic centrepiece of the Love Notes strand of February’s Valentine Appeal, asking people to write and display declarations of affection in our shop windows, for a suggested donation of just £1. Thousands responded, and as well as writing to their own loved ones, the Appeal’s ‘Sorry Emma’ poster campaign had such an impact that many members of the public wrote Love Notes to Emma herself.
March saw the launch of our ‘Handbag Saves Lives’ campaign. The slogan ‘To you, an unwanted handbag, to us a heart monitor’, encouraged people to bring in their unwanted CDs, books, clothes and household items. The campaign was supported by adverts appearing in the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and Scotland's Daily Record.
Trials of a ‘new look’ shop refurbishment, with new floors, lighting, signs and repainted frontages, proved that sales increased significantly. As a result, 34 of our shops benefited from a makeover.
Every one of our shops volunteers deserves congratulations for their achievements in 2005/06, but a special accolade goes to Blackpool’s Abingdon Street branch, which received the BHF Shop of the Year award for its staff’s hard work and consistently high performance over many years.
Impact
Our shops campaigns were a great success – Love Notes alone showed a terrific 50% rise in income over 2004/05. Stock donations rose by 20% compared to the same week the previous year as a result of the ‘Handbag Saves Lives’ campaign. Some shops saw an even greater increase. Haverhill branch usually receives 100 sacks of donated stock a week and in the first week of the campaign, this doubled!
The refurbished shops have been well received by our staff and the public, and we expect the cost of the investment to be covered within two years.
Other initiatives, such as charity wristbands, have all played their part in BHF Shops’ superb performance in 2005/06, and we raised over £9.7 million of net income, an 8% rise on last year.
Next steps
The BHF will continue to support its shops and staff in every way it can. Their ability to raise funds and keep us in the public eye is vitally important, and we plan to keep their performance ticking upwards by refurbishing a further 100 shops in 2006.
Donated stock will always be our main source of shops income, but the cost of running house-to-house collections is rising fast. We will launch a series of new initiatives to encourage donors to bring more goods directly to their local shop.
You can help us keep the nation’s hearts beating by donating unwanted goods to the BHF. So if your wardrobe is bursting with any Dolce & Gabbana or Marks & Spencer that you no longer need, please bring them down to your local BHF Shop today!