Shelter dominate at 2019 Charity Retail Awards

Shelter, the charity dedicated to ending homelessness, scored a hat-trick at the Charity Retail Awards held in Nottingham on 25 June.

Hosted by ITV ‘chaser’ Paul Sinha, Shelter won Outstanding Charity Retailer of the Year, with their Holloway Road shop in North London picking up Charity Shop of the Year, and their flagship store in King’s Cross the award for Best Shop Window.

Volunteers and staff are the lifeblood of charity shops, and Ben Atkin from Blue Cross (Young Volunteer of the Year), Jim Hudson from Cats Protection (Volunteer of the Year), and Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland’s Tracey Groom (Retail Staff Member of the Year) also received awards.

The Air Ambulance Service won the Innovation and Technology in Charity Retailing Award for their IT reuse project and White Brothers took home Supplier of the Year for the third successive year. Royal Trinity Hospice’s Streatham Hill Shop won Best Shop Interior.

Other award winners include the British Heart Foundation, who won Greenest Charity Retailer of the Year for its environmental initiatives, and the Most Unusual Item donated award. The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul received The Community and Social Impact Award for their work both sides of the border on the island of Ireland.

Charity Retail Association Chief Executive, Robin Osterley, said: “It was a great pleasure to see our sector come together again in Nottingham for our annual awards night. This year, we received an incredibly strong list of nominations, showcasing the depth of talent, industry and innovation of our members.

“Our awards give us the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the inspirational work that staff and volunteers do across the United Kingdom, and the winners should be rightly proud of their achievements.”

View the full list of 2019 Charity Retail winners and nominees.