Search charity shop donations and almost every result tells you the same thing. Bag up your old clothes, drop them at the door, job done. We work differently, and it catches people out, so it is worth setting out plainly what we can take and what we cannot.
The short version: brand new only.
Why we only accept new items
Our shops exist to sell new stock at bargain prices, funded by businesses clearing surplus. That model only works if what arrives is sealed, unused and sellable at a proper discount. We have no sorting facility, no steaming room and no way to dispose of anything that does not sell. A bag of used clothing left with us becomes a cost rather than a contribution.
It is not a judgement on second hand donations. Plenty of excellent charity shops are built on them and do brilliant work with them. Ours is not one of them, and pretending otherwise would only waste your time and ours.
There is a practical side to it as well. Everything we sell has to be priced low enough to move quickly, because slow stock takes up space we do not have. New goods in sealed packaging sell fast at a steep discount. Used goods need sorting, cleaning, testing and pricing individually, and that is a whole operation we are not set up to run.
What we can and cannot accept
| We can accept | We cannot accept |
|---|---|
| Brand new toiletries, cosmetics and gift sets in sealed packaging | Used or worn clothing of any kind |
| New toys, games and stationery, unopened | Opened or part used toiletries and cosmetics |
| New homeware, kitchenware and cleaning products | Second hand books, DVDs, bric a brac and homeware |
| New health and beauty products in date | Anything damaged, incomplete or out of date |
| Business surplus, end of line and discontinued stock | Furniture, white goods and electrical items |
If you are unsure about something, ask before you travel. A quick message saves you a wasted trip.
Donating unwanted new items as an individual
You do not have to be a business to help. Most households have a drawer or a cupboard with something in it that was never opened. Duplicate toiletry sets, a candle you were given twice, a boxed gift that was not quite right, a toy still in its packaging that your child never took to.
All of that is welcome, provided it is unopened and still sealed. It is the same test we apply to business stock, applied to a smaller pile.
How to donate to a charity shop run by us
Smaller donations can come straight to the counter at our Grosvenor Centre outlet during opening hours. Bring the items in their packaging, tell the team what they are, and that is the whole process. No form, no appointment.
People often search for a charity shop drop off near me expecting a bin or a doorway hatch. We do not have one. Everything comes over the counter so the team can check it is new before it goes anywhere near a shelf, and so nothing sits outside overnight.
Do you offer charity collections?
Not in the way most people mean it. Searches for charity collections and charity collection near me usually turn up house clearance services that come and take away bags of used goods. We do not run one of those, because we do not take used goods in the first place.
Businesses are a different matter. If you have pallets of surplus stock rather than a few carrier bags, get in touch with what you are clearing and we will sort out the best way to get it to us.
Donating surplus stock as a business
This is where the bulk of our stock comes from. Retailers, manufacturers and warehouses across the UK send us end of line ranges, overstocks and discontinued lines that would otherwise be written off or sent to landfill.
You clear warehouse space responsibly. We get sellable stock. Adults going through cancer treatment get a gift pack that costs us around £3.60 to put together and nothing at all to receive. One of our supplier partnerships has been running since 2018, which gives you an idea of how well it works once it is set up.
The kind of stock that suits us best is anything a shopper would pick up without thinking twice. Toiletries and cosmetics, gift sets, toys and games, stationery, cleaning products, homeware. Packaging can be dated, the branding can be from a range you have retired, the barcode can be for a line you no longer list. None of that matters to us as long as the product itself is new, undamaged and in date.
Quantities are flexible, and volume is a help rather than a hindrance. A single box of one product works. So does a pallet of the same shower gel, because we price to sell and the shelf can carry the depth. If you are clearing a warehouse and are not sure whether what you have is any use to us, send a photo and a rough count rather than assuming it is not worth asking.
Where your donation actually ends up
On a shelf in Northampton, sold to someone hunting a bargain, with the money going into gift packs delivered by our volunteers on hospital wards. Nothing sits gathering dust at our end either. Stock moves quickly because our prices are low, which is the point.
Those packs go to adults diagnosed with cancer in the hospitals we support across the Midlands and the surrounding areas. The patient picks what they want from a list of 29 options and every pack includes a personal letter. Free to receive, no referral, nothing asked in return.
So the chain runs like this. A business clears a line it cannot sell. We put it on a shelf at up to 80% off. A shopper in Northampton picks it up. That money buys a gift pack for somebody sitting on a ward on a long afternoon. It is not complicated, but it does depend on the first link holding.