Volunteers, Waitrose staff and Hospice staff celebrate the opening of the superstore

A new charity superstore has finally opened its doors in the Deepdale area.

St Catherine’s Hospice has created a much larger charity shop in the Guild Trading Estate off Fletcher Road.

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The charity was helped by a team from the Waitrose Distribution Centre who spent a day loading and unloading items between the hospice’s former charity shop in Walker Street.

Rachel Hewitt, head of trading at the charity, said: “Having the help of Waitrose when moving stock from our old store to the new premises was absolutely fantastic.

“The huge lorry has a much greater capacity compared to our usual vans and meant the job was done much more effectively and efficiently. The team who helped make it happen was amazing – they worked so hard fetching and carrying lots of heavy items. We really couldn’t have done it without them and are so grateful for the time and effort they put in.

“The concept of the shop is to bring a few different things together under one roof, offering a one-stop shop for various home needs, as well as some cut-price clothing. The idea is that there’ll be lots of stock on display for people to browse in the hoping of finding a fabulous bargain.”

The lorry which came to the hospice’s aid

The shop had been due to open on Monday 1 February but the hospice said it had been delayed ‘due to various circumstances outside of the charity’s control’.

Rachel said: “We were obviously disappointed not to have been able to open on February 1 as originally planned and would like to say sorry to local people who have been looking forward to calling by.

“The shop team has been working really hard over the past couple of weeks, pulling out all the stops to be ready for our opening on Monday, and it shows again how important the help of Waitrose has been.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming people inside the first St Catherine’s Superstore and to raising lots of money to fund our much-needed care for local people, now and going forward into the future.”

The shop is open from 10am to 4pm on Monday to Saturday. It accepts donations on site and anyone interested in volunteering can visit the hospice website or call 01772 629171.

Have you visited the new charity shop? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below