Barnardo’s Head of Retail Operations David Longmore said:
“Barnardo’s is delighted to be opening all of our shops in England and Wales from April 12.
“Stores in Scotland will open on April 26 and we are awaiting an update from the Northern Ireland Assembly about the reopening of retail outlets.
“The lockdowns and subsequent shop closures over the past year have had a significant impact on our ability to raise much needed funds to support vulnerable children and young people. However, our stores exceeded our expectations after each national and local lockdown and we received more donations than the previous year - about 10% more during the summer.
“We are aware that our customers have been holding onto their pre-loved items during the current lockdown in anticipation of us reopening and we shall be delighted to receive them. We would ask that our customers bear with us during the first couple of weeks of reopening as our teams will be working diligently to accept all of the donations as quickly as they can. Our colleagues and volunteers are looking forward to welcoming both our old and new customers and will have new seasonal offers available. Our teams have been preparing their shops over the last week to ensure that they adhere to Covid safe measures.
“Our online and eBay operations have been able to trade throughout the lockdowns and because of this have we have seen growth in these areas. We have seen a doubling of our eBay sales year on year and over Christmas our online shop saw sales up by in excess of 400% year on year.
“We are looking to grow our online presence over the coming years, but we are also committed to protecting our position on the high street as it is even more vital now than ever in terms of ensuring we offer employment and volunteer opportunities, and keep shops open to service our local communities.
“Barnardo’s Retail is the largest children’s charity retailer in the UK and the fourth largest charity retailer. 100% of profits from our 650 stores go directly into our work supporting around 300,000 vulnerable children and young people, their carers and parents across the UK.”