God. I'm sick of writing these closure stories.
Just found out that St Peter's Hospice is shutting down one of their Bristol shops next week. April 12th to be exact. And the reason? That same old story we're hearing everywhere - the Government's tax raid is making it impossible for them to keep the doors open.
I actually popped into that Lodge Causeway shop last summer when I was visiting my sister in Bristol. Picked up this weird little ceramic frog that sits on my desk now. Cost me £3.50. Funny how you remember these random details when places are about to disappear.
The real cost of "living wages"
Here's teh thing that's driving me crazy - everyone wants higher wages (me included!), but when the National Living Wage jumped to £12.21 earlier this month and employer National Insurance contributions are going up tomorrow... well, something's gotta give. And in this case, it's a charity shop that helps fund care for people with terminal illnesses.
I texted my friend who works for another charity retailer and her response: "We're next. Management is freaking out about the numbers."
The retail director for St Peter's, John Broomhead, gave the standard corporate line: "This decision was not taken lightly. Unfortunately, the store has become a low profit-making shop."
Yeah, no kidding.
Where will all the volunteers go?
St Peter's is trying to relocate staff to other locations, and they're hoping volunteers might travel to their Kingswood or Fishponds branches instead. But let's be real - many charity shop volunteers are older folks who choose locations based on convenience and bus routes. My gran volunteered at Oxfam for 7 years until they closed her local branch. She never went back.
The locals are devastated. Facebook comments show the usual heartbreak: "Sad news..it will be missed" and my personal favorite simple reaction: "No way."
Way. Unfortunately.
The hospice funding nightmare nobody talks about
Did you know that St Peter's Hospice only gets about 20% of its funding from the NHS? The rest comes from these charity shops and fundraising events. So when a shop closes, that's less money for people with terminal illnesses.
Back in 2018, I interviewed a hospice director (not from St Peter's) who told me they spent £4K a day just on basic patient care. That number has definitely gone up since then.
St Peter's still has 44 other shops around Bristol after this closure. For now.
The high street massacre continues
I feel like I'm writing the same article every week. Another shop closes. Another community hub disappears. Another place where people could donate unwanted items or find affordable clothes... gone.
Scope announced earlier this year they're closing 39 stores by the end of March, with another 31 to follow. They originally said 138 stores would eventually shut.
Listen. I know online shopping is convenient (I ordered three things from Amazon yesterday while sitting in my pajamas), but we're losing something important here.
The Centre for Retail Research predicts around 17,350 shops will close in 2025. That's after more than 13,000 shut last year.
I walked down my local high street last weekend and counted seven empty storefronts. Seven! And that's in a "thriving" market town. It's like a ghost at a family reunion - everyone notices but nobody wants to talk about it.
When I started covering retail in 2015, I never imagined I'd basically become a professional obituary writer for the high street. Yet here we are.
What's the point of all this?
Sometimes I wonder if anyone in government actually shops in these places. Do they understand what happens when a charity shop closes? It's not just about the money raised - it's about the community space, the volunteers who found purpose there, the shoppers who relied on affordable goods.
I spent yesterday afternoon calling around to other charity retailers to see if this is the start of a trend. Nobody would go on record, but one regional manager told me, "We're all looking at our bottom 20% performing stores right now. The math just doesn't work anymore."
Poor Bristol. Another empty storefront coming soon.
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