About The Whitechapel Centre
About This Shop
Homeless charity, The Whitechapel Centre, has two charity shops, called Open Door, in Liverpool. The main shop is on Allerton Road and they have recently opened an outlet at Red Brick Hanger in the Baltic Triangle area of the city centre.
Shop manager, Susan Ryder, explains how fashion is helping to make futures…
“Think of a charity shop. What springs to mind? Fighting your way through rack and rails of pedestrian clothing to find a vintage gem. Shelves of bric-a- brac, with that one Babycham glass tucked away at the back. Our high street is bustling with this kind of Charity shop, and I love them. That thrill you get when striking gold.
Open Door had to find a way to be heard amongst the more established charity shops. Our only way to do this was to offer something different.
We are lucky. Liverpool is an extremely generous and fashion-loving city. Open Door arose from the number of donations received by The Whitechapel Centre. We had so many clothes left over when the service users had taken what they needed, it made sense to put them to good use. This helps us to raise funds for the centre as well as raising awareness.
We wanted to create a shop that feels and looks like a boutique. Our rails are often stocked with contemporary brands from Topshop, Asos, Zara, and Urban Outfitters. As well as the amazing donations we get from our fabulous donors, we have recently we have started to receive regular donations from Shop Direct, giving us that extra edge.
The shop has created a buzz in the local community. It’s amazing. From the regular Monday morning Mum, sporting her Open Door tote and grabbing some well earned retail time after dropping the kids off to the fashion lover who sits watching our Instagram feed, waiting to pounce.
At Open Door we love to follow trends, but we create trends to follow. – #fashionmakesfutures
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