Profits at some of the UK\u2019s best-known charity shops have plummeted as they face a number of pressures, including from online secondhand clothes platforms, prompting claims that a key part of the sector\u2019s fundraising model could be under threat.<\/p>\n
According to unpublished accounts seen by the Financial Times<\/a>, Oxfam\u2019s retail profit fell 23% to \u00a34.9m in the last financial year, compared with \u00a36.4m in the previous year.<\/p>\n The British Heart Foundation (BHF), which has the biggest high street presence of any charity in the country, has announced plans<\/a> to close 150 stores after they made a loss in the last financial year. Cancer Research UK and Scope have also closed, or are closing, some of their shops.<\/p>\n But these losses come despite UK spending on secondhand clothing having quadrupled over the past decade, rising to \u00a38.8bn a year, according to GlobalData.<\/p>\n The shift has come alongside the rise of websites such as Vinted and Depop, suggesting that people who might previously have donated clothes to charity shops are instead selling them directly to other consumers and profiting themselves.<\/p>\n The British Heart Foundation, which has the biggest high street presence of any charity in the country, has announced plans to close 150 stores. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Alongside this change, Chinese companies are selling more clothes in developing countries, particularly in Africa, which has long been a major market for unwanted secondhand clothing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been challenging \u2026\u2009and it is going to be painful for the sector,\u201d Lorna Fallon, the head of Oxfam\u2019s retail operation, told the Financial Times.<\/p>\n Oxfam\u2019s latest filings reveal that for every \u00a3100 people spend in its shops, just \u00a36 now goes towards the charity\u2019s work on alleviating global poverty. As recently as 2022, the figure was \u00a322, the FT reports. However, the organisation\u2019s focus on books and music means it has no plans to reduce its number of shops.<\/p>\n In June, BHF carried out a major review of its retail arm, which employs almost 3,700 staff, after profits from its shops plunged<\/a> from \u00a318.8m in 2024 to \u00a33.6m in the year to 31 March 2025.<\/p>\n The charity cited \u201can exceptionally challenging trading environment\u201d, and said it was aiming to close 90 stores by the end of March 2027 and another 60 by the following March.<\/p>\n The rapid change in fortunes for charity shops also highlights their limitations in the face of greater competition. Whereas Vinted and Depop directly connect sellers with buyers, charity shops remain at the mercy of high street and warehouse rents and other associated costs and inefficiencies, including collecting, sorting, pricing and storing clothes.<\/p>\n Another issue hampering high street charity shops is that the clothes being donated are increasingly substandard. Speaking to the Guardian earlier this month, Tansy Hoskins, the author of Charity Shop World, described<\/a> the sector as dealing with \u201cavalanches\u201d of poor-quality clothes across the country, as people use charity shops as convenient dumping grounds for unwanted purchases.<\/p>\n \u201cQuality is the big change marker \u2013 it\u2019s gone through the floor. You\u2019re just fighting against the waste,\u201d Hoskins said.<\/p>\n Robin Osterley, the chief executive of the Charity Retail Association, said: \u201cFast fashion has had an impact on donations quality, there\u2019s no question about that.\u201d<\/p>\n Oxfam\u2019s focus on books and music means it has no plans to reduce its number of shops. Photograph: Vuk Valcic\/Zuma Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n But he added: \u201cWe don\u2019t see Vinted or any of the other online platforms as an issue at all. It might be having a little bit of an effect \u2013 where people have one bag for charity shop donations and one for Vinted \u2013 but we believe these effects are significantly mitigated by two things.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first is that Vinted and other platforms are having a very positive effect on people\u2019s attitudes towards secondhand shopping, and creating an environment where it\u2019s much more normalised. A rising tide floats all ships.<\/p>\n \u201cThe second factor is that there are a lot of people who buy things from charity shops to sell on the online platforms. Our members get a significant income from them.\u201d<\/p>\n