Compton Care shops set to reopen after charity was 'significantly' hit by pandemic
A hospice in the Black Country is set to reopen its shops in phases after they were closed due to coronavirus.
Compton Care will start to reopen its stores to shoppers in phases from the end of this month in a bid to help them raise funds.
Chiefs say they will monitor the progress of the shops before making a decision to reopen the full 28 in phases.
It comes after the Wolverhampton charity was "significantly" impacted by the pandemic due to the shops, and fundraising events, being cancelled.
Hamish Shilliday, director of income generation, said: "We are thrilled to be able to begin our phased plan of reopening our charity retail stores.
"Compton has been impacted significantly since closing our stores in line with Government advice.
"Our stores are a critical and essential source of income which all goes towards providing care for the patients and families we support."
The charity's Blackheath store, based in Sandwell, will be the first to open its doors on July 20 – followed by the shop at Compton Hall, in the grounds of its headquarters.
The hospice will also open a number of its shops in the Black Country as dedicated "donation stations" – to solely collect items from the public.
Mr Shilliday added: "Whilst we are eager to reopen it is important that we do not rush. Times are still really uncertain, and we are unsure how it will affect people’s shopping habits.
"We want to reassure everyone that we have been working really hard behind the scenes to put all of the necessary safety and social distancing measures in place making our stores safe to work in, safe to shop in and safe to donate to.
"Whilst closed we’ve also spent time carrying out some essential health and safety refurbishment works in some of our stores, the safety of our staff and visitors is our priority.
"We’ll continue to monitor progress and keep an eye on the wider environment to determine when we may be able to re-open more stores. In the meantime, I’d like to encourage people to please bring their unwanted items to our donations stations and support their local charity to get back on its feet. We have such wonderful supporters and we are so grateful they have stuck by us during this pandemic."
For more information, visit comptoncare.org.uk
