How the retail warehouse team support our shops and the hospice

Mark Nicholls is the Retail Warehouse Manager at Saint Francis Hospice. Here he shares how he and his team support the charity’s shops and raise vital income to fund the hospice’s care and support to local people.  

The role we play within the hospice is extremely varied, and at times challenging. My team is aware that behind all the hard work we do, lies the hospice. This is the reason for it all and we always take time to speak to the donors and listen to their stories about how well their loved ones were treated and cared for in the ward or at home. 

You never know what someone may donate

The warehouse in Ashton Gate, Romford, is open Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm for people to bring along donations. From the moment the shutter goes up, there is always a steady flow of people, and the exciting thing for us is we never know what someone may bring in. 

We always receive goods such as clothing, ornaments, books, and crockery but alongside these everyday donations, we have also had surprising items donated including a car, motorbike and even on one occasion, a small sailing dinghy which we set up in the car park and sold on our eBay platform.  

What happens to the donations?

What happens to the donations? We have a wonderful team of volunteers who all have their specific tasks. This includes sorting clothes, shoes, handbags, books and linen. We sort through the homeware donations, especially looking for anything we can pass over to our E-Commerce team. A few big sellers we have found include a very old guitar dating back to around 1860 which was made in France for the British market. This sold for £1,000 on eBay! We sold some Cambridge audio equipment for £1,413, and we recently had around 600 blue ray DVDs donated which sold on eBay for £1,300.  

We always welcome donations

Once donations are sorted, the support team transfers stock out of the warehouse to our 14 retail stores. We like to turn the stock around within 2 or 3 days and the vans are always out and about in the community. The team also transfers stock from store to store and collects eBay items.   

If you are passing by the warehouse (Unit 10, Ashton Gate, Ashton Rd, Harold Hill, Romford RM3 8U), please pop in to say hello. We always welcome donations - who knows maybe your old china teapot could be the next big warehouse find!