St Wilfrid’s retail chief Siobhan Robinson has described the closure of the hospice’s Summersdale charity outlet as a blow.
Siobhan spoke after it was announced today that the outlet on Lavant Road was closing, following 12 successful years, because the building’s current lease is coming to an end. The store will close at the end of September.
She said: “Sadly our current lease is coming to an end at Summersdale and we need to close our store and donation centre. This will come as a blow to our many loyal supporters in the area and we feel very sad about it too.
“Unfortunately it is not feasible financially to remain on the site and we realise it will actually bring economic benefits for the charity to centralise our furniture shop operations for the time being to our other two locations, Terminus Road, in Chichester and to the Chalcroft Nurseries site, in Bognor. We will continue to run all our other 12 successful shops and outlets in the surrounding area.
One of the most memorable donations received at Summersdale was a small Buddha statue which raised nearly £3,000 at auction through Strides & Sons
“People have been amazingly supportive to the hospice’s vital work in the Summersdale area, raising thousands of pounds over the years to fund much-needed end of life care for local people and support for their loved ones.
“We hope our loyal donors and customers will continue to support us and look forward to welcoming them at our other shops and the donation centre at Terminus Road which is open seven days a week. Our retail outlets continue to raise funds to support the work of the Hospice.”
St Wilfrid’s Hospice CEO, Alison Moorey said: “St Wilfrid’s wants to thank everyone – our amazing staff, dedicated volunteers, generous donors and loyal customers – who have raised funds for the hospice at Summersdale in recent years. All good things come to an end, but we close the doors at Summersdale with a great feeling of pride, knowing it has contributed a fantastic amount to the life of the local community.”
