The new Harington Shop, at 270 Archway Road, opposite the entrance to Cholmeley Park, opened on 13th November 2015 and has been welcomed by the local community. It is now open Monday 1pm- 5.30 pm, Tuesday to Saturday 10:30 am to 5:30 pm.
We have managed to create a smart and pleasant environment on a limited budget. Donations of furniture from Ikea, Muswell Hill Bookshop and local supporters were a great start. Many hours of searching on Ebay, Gumtree and the like led us to some good value second-hand shop fittings, and several items of furniture put out in front gardens for ‘any takers’ in Highgate and Muswell Hill have found a very welcoming new home.
We would like to thank everybody who donated goods for sale. We have been exceptionally fortunate in that we have received so many good quality clothes, household items books. I understand that many charity shops have to send to rags more than hal of the clothes that are donated to them, and send to pulp a large proportion of the books that are donated. That has been very far from our experience. Please come and see for yourselves....and buy. We are especially proud of our display of smart clothes. But we also have a good range of children’s toys, books (especially children’s), DVDS and some interesting and sometimes unusual bric a brac. We will also have a selection of Harington Christmas cards and trees available in December – just in case you can’t make Harington’s ever-popular Christmas Sale on Saturday 12th December (10 am to 2pm at our main site in Cholmeley Park).We also have some very good value bulbs for sale. Specially selected Species Tulips and Reticulata Irises - all of which can be planted well into December for naturalising or in display pots to bring glorious colour in March and April
There are still many things to do. We have to recruit a permanent manager. We need to recruit more volunteers to help in the shop and support learners. Harington can claim from the government 25% of the price of the goods sold for all donations that have been gift aided and higher rate tax payers can make a tax reclaim. We need help sorting goods and pricing them making sure we record what each person has donated. If you are interested in helping please contact shop@harington.org.uk or call into the shop.
We are still learning and we are interested in hearing feedback from people. However, it is the experience that learners will gain that will decide whether we have met our objectives in this venture. The learners will be undertaking practical retail training in the shop when it is closed to prepare them for work experience as Shop Assistants in our shop, and eventually with external retailers. We look forward to seeing you in the shop, helping them on their journey toward employment.