Sheila and Christine are volunteers at our Hampton Hill charity shop, they come into the shop one day a week, working wonders on our displays and merchandising, using their professional backgrounds to full effect. We chatted to the two friends about the work they do in supporting us to Save Sight and Change Lives – and how they enjoy themselves in the process!
A career’s worth of experience…
Sheila comes from a visual merchandising background, so all her working life has been in retail. Most recently she was at Topshop, “but when that fizzled out a couple of years ago,” she explained “I decided I'd always spent lots of time in this Fight for Sight [formerly Vision Foundation] shop as a customer, so I could help out here.” And she adds a bit of magic every time she’s in, “I just try and make the shop look as pretty as I can in the time I'm here, which is once a week!”
As a lover of good design, Sheila’s bug bear in a charity shop is when she sees random products grouped together and they're not telling a story. Instead, she likes to find a focus, perhaps it’s on lifestyle, colour or simply grouping like products. “As a visual merchandiser, you have to consider the customer, they're not going to want to look at a plastic cup next to a beautiful painting and then, something else random sitting next to it.” She laughs, “It just doesn't tell a story!”
From Topshop to Charity Shop
Of course the difference between a high street shop like Topshop and a charity shop like ours is huge, “in a charity shop we have got the biggest range of products you could ever imagine,” she says with a twinkle of excitement, “but that means there's always that fear of it looking like a complete jumble sale! And you know, on one level that’s fine; it’s a charity shop, but I just feel that if things are presented better, then you can take more money for the work we support.”
That's always the aim of the game with Sheila and Christine; it's about, making money for the charity to benefit people living with sight loss “and that makes it feel so important,” reflects Sheila. “That’s why I enjoy it so much. In fact, this morning I've just redone the picture window and before I could even finish it, we were selling the items I’d arranged! They just kept coming in, drawn by the display we created and snapping things up.”
When I step out that door to go to volunteer at the Fight for Sight shop, I think, oh, I'm going to work! It’s something to put on makeup for and to dress up for!
Christine’s journey to volunteering
Meanwhile, Christine has undergone treatment for a ripped retina and cataracts in the past, so has a close connection to the work that we fund. Career-wise, she considers herself a jack of all trades, “I've done a bit of everything in my life! I've been a licenced publican, I had my own business as a hairdresser, I lived in Cyprus for three years and I also managed a charity shop for another charity for 15 years too!”
For her, besides supporting a cause that's close to her heart, creating window displays is the best bit, “I like working to themes and, you know, doing it properly – it’s an incredibly creative thing to do! Sheila and I work really well together and I think we’ve both got this artistic flare! And of course we come from an era where we get very proud of our work.”
“I think that’s a very good word, pride,” chimes in Sheila, “We take pride in what we do and we enjoy ourselves. We’ll do a 60s theme window and people will come in and say “It looks just like the 60s!” And we think, ‘yes, it’s supposed to’!
Volunteering, the secret to eternal youth?
Both Sheila and Christine agree that volunteering gives them a sense of energy and usefulness that they crave. At the “tender age of 76” as she puts it, Christine certainly has a very youthful vigour, “I do get told that!” she laughs, tossing a long silver plait over her shoulder, “I love volunteering here and I love the people. I think being with younger people as well makes you feel younger.”
When she’s not volunteering, Sheila meets friends, walks her dog and enjoying going to exhibitions, but without her volunteering role she reflects, “I’d miss people and the retail environment that’s been my whole life. At Topshop most of my team were in their 20s. I was old enough to be their grandmother but it was great!”
No day is the same…
Besides the window dressing, Christine loves it when people bring donations in to be sorted through, “I was telling a friend the other day, it’s like Christmas every day!” she laughs “And there’s a lot of variety in what people bring in, I've seen it, done it and had it and worn the T-shirt!” She stopped the conversation to share an incredible story…
“There was this one lady, who came in one day with a big black, plastic bag over her arm. And she laid it on the counter and she says, ‘I thought you'd like this.’ And then she walked out again.
Well, when we looked in the bag our jaws absolutely dropped. It was a couture coat off the catwalk! Chanel! Oh my gosh, it was absolutely drop dead gorgeous. The way it was made was perfection. I can't describe it any other way. We had a silent auction for it but the lady who brought it in, nobody knew her or took her name or anything! Incredible.”
The evolution of high street shopping…
Clearly the high street is changing. According to CharityRetail.org, more than 3% of retail units are charity shops and many people’s experiences will suggest that figure is growing. “I’d always rather see a charity shop than an empty unit.” Sheila asserts. She believes there does need to be a balance though, on a recent visit to Richmond she complained that “every retail space was either a coffee shop or a restaurant, it used to be a destination for really good clothes, so why would you go shopping there any more?”
Christine and Sheila have observed a growth market in the younger generations, “A lot of the teenagers and 20 year olds, all they buy is vintage. And it's brilliant. It's fantastic.” Sheila enthuses. And so the pair have been working to capture the attention of younger customers by displaying the beautiful vintage items that are regularly donated.
But young people are not the only ones making purchases, “I just see something and it's like, oh God, I can't leave that on the rail.” Sheila smiles, “I've got to buy it. You know because, it stands out, you know? It chooses you.”
Volunteering in Fight for Sight shops is about making money to benefit people living with sight loss - and that makes it feel so important.
Satisfaction guaranteed
In closing, the friends reflected on their favourite thing about volunteering in our shop. “Just that personal satisfaction of making something look better than it did when I walked in.” is what Sheila concludes, “I love it. But obviously the end result is to get the money in the till, so, yeah – win win!”
“At my age. I think it's just being useful instead of being at home.” Christine shares, “I'm a single woman, so it's nice to just go out. Though I’ve got three children and six grandchildren, it's only the cat and I at home. So when I step out that door to go to volunteer at the Fight for Sight shop, I think, oh, I'm going to work! It’s something to put on makeup for and to dress up for!”
Find out how you can volunteer in one of our Fight for Sight charity shops.
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