Located on Bristol's bustling Gloucester Road, Marie Curie is a charity shop unlike any other: it hosts a community hub at the back of the store.
We decided to visit the store to learn more about the work the shop does for the Bristol community from Stephanie, the Community Hub Manager.
Stephanie explained that the Community Hub was first launched by Retail Director Jacqui Woolley, who wanted to show customers a different side of the charity, what Marie Curie does as a charity and what they're raising money for.
Visitors can come in and have a direct line of support service and there are also different leaflets available at the back of the store. Employees at the store also received brand ambassador training and can speak to customers all about what Marie Curie does as a charity.
The Community Hub hosts creative workshops regularly as well as stallholders and small markets. Stallholders can book a free stall at any time for a 10% donation to the charity.
To contact the store to host a stall, an event or workshop, email gloucesterroad@mariecurieshops.org.uk, call 0117 944 2371 or visit the store at 105-107 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 8AT.
We decided to visit the store to learn more about the work the shop does for the Bristol community from Stephanie, the Community Hub Manager.
Stephanie explained that the Community Hub was first launched by Retail Director Jacqui Woolley, who wanted to show customers a different side of the charity, what Marie Curie does as a charity and what they're raising money for.
Visitors can come in and have a direct line of support service and there are also different leaflets available at the back of the store. Employees at the store also received brand ambassador training and can speak to customers all about what Marie Curie does as a charity.
The Community Hub hosts creative workshops regularly as well as stallholders and small markets. Stallholders can book a free stall at any time for a 10% donation to the charity.
To contact the store to host a stall, an event or workshop, email gloucesterroad@mariecurieshops.org.uk, call 0117 944 2371 or visit the store at 105-107 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 8AT.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00My name's Stephanie, I'm the Community Hub Manager here at our Gloucester Road shop.
00:04We run a number of creative workshops here, so today we run a headband making workshop,
00:11as you can see today on my head, and that was an aid of our Great Daffodil Appeals.
00:16We also run events for our local communities, so we do regular stallholder events as well,
00:22where people can sell their artwork and their arts and crafts stuff here,
00:26and then we offer people the space for free, but they give us a 10% donation to the charity.
00:33And how did the idea come about of the Community Hub and the workshops you host?
00:39So the Community Hub was first launched by our Retail Director, Jackie Woolley, and she
00:46had the idea for the Community Hub as she wanted customers to see a different side of the charity,
00:51so she runs retail and wanted customers to see what Marie Curie does as a charity,
00:56what we're all raising money for, so that's why she's done the, so we have the support lines,
01:02people can come in and they have a direct line to our support service, all the different leaflets
01:07here as well that people can have access to, and it's a space where, so we've all had our
01:14brand ambassador training, so we can speak to customers all about what Marie Curie does as a
01:19charity. And then the ideas for the workshops came about probably about two years ago, so the
01:27previous Community Hub Manager, Dawn Parsons, had the idea for doing the workshops here as a way of
01:34engaging with the community and having another way to raise additional funds for the charity,
01:40so that's how the idea came about, and then within the past sort of year and a half that's
01:45really quite grown as well, so we do run workshops here probably about once to twice a month here,
01:51and it's been taken very well by the community who want to use the space to run their own
01:56workshops as well, as it's a way that local businesses and the community can get their
02:03stuff out there, and when people know that we've got the events happening here, people are very
02:09excited when they know that this is happening and they know that we have this space at the back too.
02:16So we've always had really good feedback from people, so recently we had a sip and paint which
02:21was one of our first evening, it was our first evening event that we did, and we got a very
02:26positive response from that one, and the community has really taken to it as well, so Co-op very kindly
02:32donated some Prosecco for us for that event, and we raised a lot of money for the charity of that
02:38event as well, so it's been, yeah, and we've got our regulars that come as well, our regular
02:44stallholders that love using the space too, so it's, yeah, been received very well and we're hoping
02:50we can raise more awareness of the space as well. We're always here for people if they need any
02:55additional support as well, that we are here, the space is open, and if anyone has any ideas that
03:02they might have for any events or any workshops, feel free to come to us to have a talk with us,
03:07and we'd be happy to help.