Member Article

Charities face challenges on many fronts right now, but one silver lining to the cost-of-living crisis is the popularity of charity shops, especially among younger people.

Today sees the launch of Charity Super.Mkt at the Brent Cross Shopping Centre in North London, a great illustration of necessity being the mother of invention, meeting the demand for sustainable fashion and bringing life back to vacant retail space.

Charity Super.Mkt is the brainchild of Wayne Hemingway, founder of the fashion designer Red or Dead and now of Hemingway Design and Maria Chenoweth Chief Executive of Traid, a charity working to stop clothes from being thrown away, and showcases imaginative and inspirational collaboration between business and charity.

For up to four weeks Charity Super.Mkt will provide the destination, location, marketing, music and customers while 10 charities - big and smaller - will fill the retail space vacated by Top Shop at Brent Cross with their pre-loved clothing.

The concept will be rolled out nationally in 2023, with a pop-up in a different place each month on payday, perhaps giving fundraising opportunities to local charities which may not even have their own shops, as well as supplementing the ongoing and expanding retail estates of larger charities.

Of course, the entity set up by Hemingway and Chenoweth will have to deal with the perhaps more mundane formalities of running such an initiative. Whilst not knowing the details of what interest they have at the Brent Cross Shopping Centre, there will no doubt be some form of property interest required.

My colleague Kirsty Black, partner in Shoosmiths’ real estate litigation team and one of the lead partners in a project working alongside the British Property Federation, charitable trust Power to Change, local government network, New Local, Radix and members of the High Street Taskforce with Platform Places, says such formalities were cited as a barrier to many community and/or charity schemes being able to make their projects happen. In particular, getting access to high street properties has proved to be difficult and complex.

However, it shouldn’t be prohibitive. Another colleague, Anna Lowe, a legal director in our real estate team with expertise in working with charity clients, says “a lease often can be a complex document but for pop up shops like those proposed in this initiative they needn’t be. Both parties need to be encouraged to simplify lease terms and to provide the ability for such organisations to operate schemes like that proposed at Brent Cross. The hope is that the charity/community organisation benefits from easier access to sites and that the landlord benefits from increased footfall to their scheme making it more desirable to other tenants and, in turn, increasing the investment value."

It is difficult to spot anything not to like. Charities/ their trading subsidiaries won’t have to enter into leases or fret about which parts (if any) of their retail space qualify for mandatory rates relief. They will just turn up with their merchandise and staff and focus on selling, paying Charity Super.mkt 20% of their turnover to cover the costs of the pop-up space.

At a time when money is tight for many, helping everyone to make their pound go further while financing great causes makes it hard to disagree with the claim of Charity Super.Mkt that: “charity retail is, and always has been, the best thing since sliced bread. It’s the biggest green, circular, sustainable retailer on the British high street, and does really impactful, kind things with profits. United we have to claim our title and be the loudest circular economy voice!”

Here’s hoping the charities at the Brent Cross pop up and involved in future pop ups in a place near you in 2023 strike gold - as it’s just been reported BHF has done with the donation to its Hounslow store of a £10,000 18-carat gold Cartier Tank Française watch! 

 

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