Walk past Fight for Sight’s charity shop in Ealing and you’ll notice it straight away; the warmth, the colour and the feeling that this is a place where people are genuinely welcome. Thanks to the shop manager Sophia and her team, this is a place where Ealing locals love to shop, volunteer and donate to help us in our mission to Save Sight. Change Lives.
For Sophia, who gives credit to her whole team of colleagues and volunteers, her role as a charity shop manager isn’t just a job, it’s the natural next chapter in a life shaped by a deep belief that being kind can genuinely change someone’s day. We got the inside scoop from Sophia about what the job is like and the career path that led her here...
Sophia’s journey to becoming a charity shop manager
Sophia’s professional journey is rich and varied. She studied law and spent years at the at the state consumer protection body in Brazil. “I was always looking at things from the customer’s point of view,” she explains. “If people were complaining, I wanted to understand why – and whether what the company said matched what was actually happening.”
But long before that, the foundations were already there. Sophia grew up in a family of entrepreneurs in northern Brazil. Her father started a small food business that grew into a market and then a supermarket. Her mother also ran high street businesses. “I saw it all happening,” Sophia says. “They were very natural with people. Our house was always open - ‘come in, have a coffee’. That was just how we lived.”
That spirit of hospitality stuck. “You never know what people are facing at home,” she reflects. “Why make things harder? I always try to be positive in people’s lives.”
Raising the charity shop game on Ealing Broadway
After moving to London and working in more corporate brand environments, Sophia found herself drawn to something different. Managing the Ealing Fight for Sight charity shop feels personal. “It’s like my own project,” she says. “We have strong competitors around us, so we have to do things well.”
For Sophia, that means rejecting the idea that charity retail should look or feel second best. “Just because we’re a charity shop doesn’t mean we shouldn’t represent ourselves beautifully,” she says. “We have very good products here. We receive amazing donations – we’re a bit blessed.”
The shop is clean, thoughtfully styled. The prices are fair and the atmosphere is calm and welcoming, which seems to be working. “You get what you put in,” Sophia smiles. “If you’re friendly, people want to give, they want to shop! They feel nice here.”
If you’re local to Ealing and planning a clear-out, Sophia would love to see you. High-quality donations are what keep the shop thriving, and every item helps fund eye research and support people living with vision loss.
We even offer a Home Collection service for people with three or more bags of donations (this reel shows how much local stylist Sarah Sole appreciated our Home Collection service).
How running a charity shop is different to a typical retail role…
What really sets the Ealing Fight for Sight charity shop apart is the sense of connection. Regulars don’t just pop in to browse, they come by to chat. “Yesterday, a lady came in and said, ‘I just came to say hello to you,’” Sophia recalls. “That’s very special.”
Another customer, after a casual conversation about coffee, returned with Nespresso pods as a gift. “I’m from Brazil, I love coffee,” Sophia laughs. “Good coffee.” These moments, she says, would never happen in a big corporate store. “Can you imagine that in a mainstream high street retailer?”
Music plays its part too. Sophia curates the shop’s soundtrack carefully, reading the mood of the day. On a quiet Sunday morning, it might be Jack Johnson - relaxed, gentle, beachy. “Music is part of my life,” she says. “It changes how people feel in the space.”
Powered by a brilliant community of colleagues and volunteers
Sophia is quick to say she couldn’t do any of this alone. Raquel, the assistant manager – who happens to be from Spain - is also very committed to making the shop feel special. “And I learn a lot from Goda every day.” Sophia enthuses about one of Fight for Sight’s Commercial Managers. “The way she looks after and cares for everyone and the shops is inspiring.”
Then there are the volunteers, who are in Sophia’s own words, “amazing”.
“They’re all so different,” she says. “Different ages, backgrounds, countries.” There are young volunteers doing Duke of Edinburgh awards, adults from Poland, India, Bangladesh, France and England, a married couple from Hong Kong, and even a mother and daughter who volunteer together. “I really don’t have words for how incredible they are,” Sophia says. “They’re proactive and kind. And really, they’re here to help.”
Our volunteers are incredible. Different ages, backgrounds, countries – and all so kind.
Sophia takes time to understand each volunteer, matching tasks to personalities and confidence levels. “If someone is quieter, I give them something they enjoy first, like books,” she explains. “Then they grow into everything else.”
You can find out about volunteering roles in our shops here >
So what makes a great charity shop manager?
Ask Sophia what qualities matter most in her job, and her answer comes back to the values she grew up with. Empathy, observation and hard work. “You have to notice people,” she says. “Even when they’re not speaking.”
For her retail is about people first, sometimes that means giving space and sometimes it means listening. “If someone wants to talk, and I’m able to, why not?” she says. “Maybe they don’t have anyone else to talk to.”
Now, as spring approaches, Sophia is excited to keep evolving this popular charity shop and further becoming part of the Ealing community. The shop has an upstairs meeting space that is free to local groups and organisations (in return for donations of course). “It feels organic,” she says. “And I really like that.”
In Ealing, Fight for Sight’s shop is more than a place to buy pre-loved clothes. It’s a place to belong. And at its heart is a manager who believes, deeply and instinctively, in making people feel welcome.
Together, this is how we Save Sight. Change Lives.
We’re hiring! Take a look at the current Fight for Sight retail vacancies >
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