Weldmar Hospicecare’s retail outlet in Shaftesbury transformed into charity’s first Superstore

Weldmar Hospicecare’s Community Nurse Specialist for the Shaftesbury area has cut the ribbon at the opening of the charity’s first Superstore.

Alongside Weldmar trustee James Joicey-Cecil and staff members and volunteers, Caroline Gullis officially opened the store with a keen group of bargain hunters ready to explore the newly refurbished site.

The retail site at Longmead Industrial Estate, which marked ten years in the town earlier this year, has been given a smart new makeover in order to provide a much more pleasurable shopping experience for visitors, as well as provide more information about how the proceeds make a difference for people in the local area with a life limiting illness and their loved ones.

Our Customers’ Feedback

Regular customer Clare was one of the first people through the door, and says, “I think it looks really lovely. It’s nice and bright. I love the new doors at the side. It’s very spacious and welcoming.”

“You never know what’s going to be here,” adds Clare. “It’s such a wide mixture of things and I always come in and buy Christmas and birthday presents throughout the whole year. When I give presents to people, they’re amazed at what I’ve bought, but I’ve often only spent three or four pounds. It’s not very much money for something and yet it’s a beautiful present.”

Clare also says that charity shopping is the ‘original recycling’, and a great way to be sustainable.

Weldmar’s Future Plans

The refurbishment is the latest for Weldmar’s chain of charity shops, following renovations at Lyme Regis and Lodmoor in Weymouth, and is the first of the larger sites that sell furniture to get the new look. More sites will get a refresh over the coming months as the charity continues to grow their income from shops, outlets – and now superstores – to fund specialist end of life care in Dorset for adults with a life limiting illness, and support for their loved ones.