Letter: ​Charity shops play an important role in society - they're a good deal for the charities themselves, consumers and the environment

Charity shops have shown their resilience in the huge challenges they’ve faced over the past few years and are now continuing to thrive and attract new customers.

The importance of the role charity shops play in society cannot be understated – they occupy a prominent and exceptional place in the retail landscape and it’s exciting to see the sector adapting to meet the needs of their customers; from opening new superstores to embracing social media trends.

Charity shops offer a completely unique shopping experience which couldn’t happen without the effort and dedication of the thousands of volunteers and staff who work every day to raise money for good causes and give their time to make their charity shops a success.

The importance of charity shops to the charity sector is illustrated by the fact that there are over 10,000 of them across the United Kingdom, they raised £363million for charities in 2021/22, they employ nearly 27,000 people, and also have nearly 200,000 volunteers. In terms of environmental benefits, the charity shops keep more than 340,000 tonnes of textiles from being disposed of in landfill each year.

These statistics illustrate the importance of this sector to our economy, but of course we must always be mindful that given some of the benefits which charity shops have in terms of rates etc they should not be competing with existing shops through being a major supplier of new goods which are on sale in privately owned shops.

Purchasing used goods in charity shops helps fund important voluntary charity activities, helps the environment and as I know personally can ensure good bargains for the consumer.

Sammy Wilson

DUP MP for East Antrim