Shop with us
How our shops work
We have more than 1500 volunteers who give some of their time each week to help run our 74 shops. Our volunteers are everything to our shops – we couldn’t succeed without them!
You could help us to sell more items, to make more money, to help more disadvantaged young people. No experience is necessary – just a willingness to be part of a shop team for a few hours a week.
The times are flexible so you can fit your volunteering around work, family or social commitments. In return you will meet new friends, have fun, get involved in your local community, receive training and support, gain experience and know you are doing something worthwhile!
The Children’s Society shops raised over £4million last year by collecting, sorting and selling donated goods. We are always looking for more people to contribute to the work of each shop and our volunteers are encouraged to take part in a variety of tasks. There is something for everyone!
Our shops are generally open from 9.30 until 4.30, six days a week, but there are some local variations to these times.
We have a variety of volunteer roles:
Stock selection and preparation If you’ve got an eye for fashion, quality and style, you could help turn bags of unwanted items into a shop full of desirable clothes and household items.
Customer Service If you’re friendly and like meeting people you could be just the person we need to serve customers and help them find what they’re looking for.
Window Dresser If you have an interest in fashion and a creative eye you could use your skills to entice customers into the shop by making sure the window display looks fantastic.
Merchandiser Help keep our shops brimming with high quality, stylish items, arranged attractively, to persuade customers to part with their money!
Volunteer Shop Manager Some volunteers want a bit more responsibility and enjoy running a shop and motivating their team. If you’re good at planning and get on well with a wide range of people this could be the role for you.
Book Specialist If you love books you could use your passion to sort, price and maintain our book section, selecting books in good condition and arranging them to help customers find what they are looking for.
Collectables Specialist If you know your ‘Wade’ from your ‘Wedgwood’ you could help us make the most of our treasures. We always need people with an interest in collectables, antiques and retro items.
Entertainment Specialist You know who you are! In a quiz you can answer all the questions on rock, pop, TV and movie trivia. We need you to look after our CD, vinyl, video and DVD shelves.
Admin/Finance Assistant If you like paperwork you could help the Shop Manager with the post, forms, reports, rotas and planning. This is a vital role to ensure the shop runs efficiently.
Electrical Tester If you’re an electrician, or know the basics and are happy to do a short course, you could make it possible for one of our shops to raise more money selling small portable electrical appliances such as CD players, table lamps and hair straighteners.
Stock Collector We can never have too much stuff! Can you persuade people and groups to donate more or arrange a special collection? To do this you just need to be confident and friendly.
Other Specialists If you have a passion and think we could make money from it, get in touch… retro… jewellery… hobbies… crafts… collections… local interest…anything!
