{"id":743771,"date":"2026-08-20T06:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T06:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/743771\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T06:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T06:38:21","slug":"oxfam-cant-guarantee-future-of-charity-shops-as-it-also-reviews-warehouse-business-oxfam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/743771\/","title":{"rendered":"Oxfam \u2018can\u2019t guarantee future\u2019 of charity shops as it also reviews warehouse business | Oxfam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oxfam is reviewing the operations of its three warehouses in Batley, Bicester and Milton Keynes and says it \u201ccannot give guarantees\u201d on the future of its high street shops in a \u201cdifficult economic climate\u201d.<\/p>\n

The charity said it had no plans to close warehouses or shops but insiders fear that Batley, which houses Oxfam\u2019s main textile recycling centre, will shut as part of a cost-cutting drive because the West Yorkshire site\u2019s lease is up for renewal.<\/p>\n

All three warehouses together employ about 90 people.<\/p>\n

A source said Oxfam was considering closing up to 100 of its 500-plus UK outlets as sales at some were no longer viable. \u201cDonations have dropped off,\u201d the insider said, adding that the charity\u2019s shops were also facing competition from online sellers of secondhand goods such as Vinted.<\/p>\n

\u201cOxfam is always more expensive, and that\u2019s starting to have an effect,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

Oxfam Activities is the charity\u2019s arm that aims to raise money through its trade in new items for sale in shops, its textile recycling plant in Batley and the provision of stewards for festivals. However, it made losses of more than \u00a32m in the year to March 2025 and in the prior year.<\/p>\n

Sales fell by 7% in the year to March 2025, driven by a slump in income from recycling. This division of the business does not include direct income from the stores.<\/p>\n

Lorna Fallon, chief supporter officer of Oxfam GB, said: \u201cIn [the last financial year], Oxfam GB\u2019s shops, warehouses and online retail teams generated a \u00a36.3m (net) contribution to our humanitarian work, as well as raising dedicated funds through emergency appeals to support crises in Venezuela, the Middle East and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Sources fear for the future of the Batley site, which houses Oxfam\u2019s main textile recycling centre, because its lease is up for renewal. Photograph: Lorne Campbell\/Guzelian<\/p>\n

\u201cAs is standard practice, we keep all parts of our retail operations under review via regular meetings. While we cannot give guarantees in this difficult economic climate, we are confident in and positive about our current retail performance and do not have plans to close our shops or warehouses at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fallon said Oxfam had launched a new online rental service recently and had brought fulfilment of online orders back in-house, as well as opening a second superstore, in Manchester.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNext month our shops, warehouses and digital hubs will be leading Second Hand September, our annual campaign to tackle fashion\u2019s environmental damage while raising funds for our global work on poverty and climate change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The review of Oxfam\u2019s operations comes after job cuts and store closures at charities including the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Cancer Research.<\/p>\n

The BHF closed 150 shops<\/a> and cut jobs earlier this summer. It blamed rising costs and the shift to online shopping had made about a quarter of its high street locations commercially unsustainable. Cancer Research announced in October it would be closing 90 shops across the UK.<\/p>\n

Charities selling secondhand clothing have also faced increased competition for customers and donations from online sellers such as eBay and Vinted, while the price of \u201crag\u201d \u2013 damaged or unwanted clothing and home textiles for recycling, which was once a key source of income \u2013 has fallen in recent years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oxfam is reviewing the operations of its three warehouses in Batley, Bicester and Milton Keynes and says it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-743771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}