FLEETWOOD’S high street has a new charity shop in the shape of a Salvation Army outlet.
While there are sometimes complaints that charity shops are not always what town centres need, Fleetwood’s seven stores argue that they play a crucial role on the high street.
And they say that they are much better than the grim alternative - empty shops.
The bargain outlets, supporting a range of good causes, have been a growing part of the shopping scene in the town in recent years – and now the Salvation Army, affectionately known as “Sally Ann”, has added to the choice.
After the shop opened its doors on Lord Street last Thursday, shop manager Judith McDonald commented: “We’ve been very busy getting the shop ready for a while now and the response from local residents has been fantastic,
“People have been regularly popping by, keen to see what’s going on and how they can help.
“We’ve already had some very generous donations from locals but we’re hoping to encourage more people to donate their unwanted Christmas presents so we can put them to good use.
“We hope that now we’re open the local residents will enjoy shopping here, as we’ve got some fabulous bargains.”
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Money raised there will help support some of the charity’s projects, such as homeless shelters, substance misuse centres and family tracing services.
Other charity shops in Fleetwood town centre remain confident there is still enough business to maintain the cash flow for all the local good cause outlets.
Sharon Kenny, manager at the Scope shop which supports the disabled, said: “It’s not a problem having another charity shop.
“An empty shop is worse than anything for us and people do the charity run – going round all the shops.
“We have our regulars who come and they always buy. We couldn’t survive without them.
“Sometimes the shops will exchange stock and someone will pass things to us if they think we can get a better price. Fortunately we have some very generous donors.”
At the Wyre Animal Welfare, Judith Davies said: “We aren’t as immaculate as the other shops but they probably get more visitors from out of town and we get more locals
“Here, every penny we take goes to help the animals.”