Profits made by charity shops in the last financial year topped £100 million for the first time, according to new statistics. The Salvation Army was one of the charities to benefit, making profits of £6 million - 64 percent more than the previous year. Sue Ryder care saw increases in profits of 35 percent to £2.8 million and Save the Children, Age Concern England and the Children’s Society all achieved rises of more than 15 percent as shoppers hunted for bargains in the credit crunch. Oxfam was the biggest earner, raising £21m through its shops alone. Charity Finance magazine surveyed more than 5,591 shops, discovering that Books and DVDs were among the biggest purchases for cash-strapped consumers. Some charities have been blamed for carrying out “aggressive marketing” which has been accused of driving other stores out of business. However, profits at Barnardo’s and Marie Curie Cancer Care went down, with representatives from the charities blaming a decrease in the amount of donated items. It has recently been reported that Age Concern has opened a charity shop near a tip in Rugby to take items people want to throw away as donations.

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2 September 2008
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