Whoever coined the description ‘non essential retail’ and included charity shops under that umbrella term surely made a big, big mistake. What could be more essential than a shop where you can buy winter and summer clothes, books, crockery, quality art jigsaw puzzles, leather purses, maps, shoes, clocks, pots and pans, hats and even more? All we can say is Amazon eat your heart out!
The Cherry Lodge Cancer Care shop in Church Passage, Barnet reopened as scheduled on Monday 12th April. It had been closed since before Christmas and was stuck in a winter time warp as staff members were furloughed and no one was allowed access until the week before the reopening. Getting the shop ready was a huge task master-minded by CL Shop Manager Susan Brady with Assistant Manager Annys Douglas. Susan has told us that the work ‘took longer than anticipated’ but ‘luckily we had volunteers to help’. The team was also encouraged by lots of regular customers admiring the new window displays, telling them how much the shop had been missed and saying that they couldn’t wait to return to the shop … and return they did!
Describing the reopening, CL volunteer and roving reporter, Freddy, wrote: ‘It was a wonderful day and people seemed to come alive being able to see attractive items, check them out and take them home without having to wait for parcels to be delivered. The sheer delight on the, albeit masked, faces of our very eager shoppers said it all: the Cherry Lodge shop is fully functional so please come to Church Passage and spend to your heart’s content! You will be welcomed with open arms as well as disinfectant gel!’
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