Britain’s charity shops are fighting for survival

{"text":[[{"start":6.934,"text":"For decades, charity shops have boasted a business model that most retailers could only dream of."}],[{"start":12.48,"text":"Customers supply much of the merchandise for free, volunteers help sell it and the government gives generous tax breaks."}],[{"start":19.04,"text":"But changes in the second-hand clothing market are now battering the best-known chains, with online platforms such as Vinted among the major beneficiaries."}],[{"start":28.64,"text":"“It has been challenging . . . and it is going to be painful for the sector,” said Lorna Fallon, who oversees Oxfam’s retail operation."}],[{"start":35.941,"text":"British Heart Foundation, which has more shops than any other UK charity, has announced plans to close 150 stores after its retail arm made a loss and contributed nothing to its charitable funds last financial year."}],[{"start":48.4,"text":"Cancer Research UK and Scope are also slashing outlets in a trend that threatens to reshape Britain’s high street."}],[{"start":55.469,"text":"“It is a proper crisis for the sector about whether it survives,” said Catherine Shuttleworth, a retail consultant who advises charities."}],[{"start":63.52,"text":"“A number of charity boards are currently questioning whether to remain in retail at all.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":68.08,"text":"UK spending on second-hand clothing has quadrupled in the past decade to £8.8bn, according to GlobalData."}],[{"start":75.447,"text":"However, consumers are selling their best items on Vinted, Depop and other websites rather than donating them to charities."}],[{"start":82.72,"text":"Meanwhile, Chinese clothing companies have pushed into Africa, driving down prices in the market for unwanted clothes, historically a key source of income for British charity shops."}],[{"start":93.76,"text":"Oxfam’s latest accounts show that for every £100 spent in its shops, it now raises just £6 for its work tackling poverty and inequality in developing countries. In 2021-22, the figure was £22."}],[{"start":106.48,"text":"Oxfam says it is “different” from its struggling rivals because of its emphasis on books, CDs and vinyls. It says it has no plan for mass shop closures."}],[{"start":115.427,"text":"“When you look at the other charities’ numbers . . . I think we are doing incredibly well,” Oxfam’s interim chief executive Richard Hawkes said. “I don’t know why other people are feeling pessimistic.”"}],[{"start":124.24,"text":"Some current and former Oxfam employees question whether management has acknowledged the scale of its retail problems."}],[{"start":133.728,"text":"“Oxfam says, no, everything’s fine, but it’s not,” said one."}],[{"start":137.444,"text":"In its financial year ending in March 2026, Oxfam’s retail profit fell 23 per cent to £4.9mn, compared to £6.4mn in the previous period, according to people familiar with its unpublished accounts."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":152.12,"text":"The pressures extend to its subsidiary Oxfam Activities, which handles commercial activities such as sales of new products, but is also charged a proportion of the shops’ running costs. Between 2022-23 and 2024-25, it swung from a £1mn operating profit to a £2mn loss."}],[{"start":172.16,"text":"The Charity Commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales, told the FT that it was assessing concerns about Oxfam’s relations with its commercial subsidiary. It said it had made no findings so far."}],[{"start":183.76,"text":"Oxfam said it was confident its trading arrangements were appropriate and operated in the charity’s best interests."}],[{"start":188.806,"text":"Despite all their volunteers and tax advantages, which include lower business rates, charities face a structural disadvantage against online platforms: they are burdened by the high fixed costs of shops and warehouses."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":201.436,"text":"While the platforms simply connect buyers and sellers, charity retailers must collect, sort, price and store thousands of individual items."}],[{"start":209.68,"text":"“The quality of stock that has entered the charity retail sector has generally fallen,” said Richard Lim, an analyst at Retail Economics, adding that the rise of fast fashion was also contributing to the deterioration."}],[{"start":222.047,"text":"Meanwhile, the rise of Chinese exports to developing countries has crushed a vital source of income for charity shops."}],[{"start":229.206,"text":"In Kenya, the UK’s share of used-clothing imports has fallen from 20 per cent to 3 per cent since 2013. China’s share has surged from 3 per cent to 54 per cent, according to calculations based on UN trade data."}],[{"start":243.133,"text":"At Batley, Oxfam’s textile-recycling plant in West Yorkshire, northern England, Oxfam’s site manager Andrew Flintoff has watched the value of old clothes disappear."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":252.241,"text":"Five years ago, a kilogramme of rag fetched 37p, he said, while today it is worth 9p."}],[{"start":258.48,"text":"Next year, prices could turn negative, according to Letsrecycle, a trade publication. That would leave charities forced to pay recyclers to take away poor-quality donated clothes."}],[{"start":258.98,"text":"“Everything has changed,” said Flintoff. “You just need to think creatively about it.”"}],[{"start":275.07,"text":"Over the past year, Oxfam’s Batley plant has transformed former textile-sorting rooms into a bustling online book operation generating about £10,000 a week in sales."}],[{"start":285.388,"text":"Clothes that earlier would have gone to developing countries are now being sold to festivalgoers at events such as Glastonbury, while it has also expanded its stock of jewellery and CDs."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":295.887,"text":"Oxfam is also experimenting with larger out-of-town superstores in Oxford and Manchester, a model pursued by Cancer Research as an alternative to traditional high street shops."}],[{"start":306.673,"text":"Scope, meanwhile, has returned its retail operation to profitability in 2025-26 after closing more than half of its shops."}],[{"start":315.527,"text":"Hawkes, Oxfam’s chief executive, said it was “impossible to say” when the charity’s retail business would recover its lost profits, but that he believed expanding books and online sales was the way forward."}],[{"start":327.76,"text":"Oxfam shops’ value went far beyond their financial return, providing a presence in more than 500 communities and engaging about 20,000 volunteers, he argued."}],[{"start":339.76,"text":"But he added: “Oxfam doesn’t exist to run shops. Oxfam exists to do brilliant humanitarian work around the world.”"}],[{"start":348.56,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793431165_6331.mp3"}