HOPE House Children’s Hospices will be reopening its first four Welsh stores next week.

Stores in Llandudno, Welshpool, Bangor and Flint will reopen their doors on June 30 as lockdown restrictions on the non-essential retail sector have been relaxed in Wales.

Opening hours for the foreseeable future will be 10am until 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday.

Angela Whelan, head of retail, explained that new working practices were being introduced to keep customers and staff safe, including social distancing rules, hand sanitising stations at shop entrances and contactless payment.

She said: “All stock currently for sale has been in the stores since before lock down so it completely Covid free, while new donations are being isolated for 72 hours before sorting, in line with current guidelines.

“We have thought carefully about how we can open our stores and keep our staff and customers safe, and we have already opened four stores in England using similar arrangements.

“At the moment we are not asking our volunteers to return until we are comfortable it is safe for them to do so within social distancing guidelines.”

Donations of stock can be taken to the stores during opening hours.

Angela is asking people to phone ahead before travelling because space for isolating donated stock at the stores for the required 72 hours is limited.

You can call:

  • Llandudno – 01492 876445
  • Bangor – 01248 355644
  • Flint – 01352 733485
  • Welshpool – 01938 556333

Angela continued: “We are asking our supporters to only bring us items that they themselves would like to buy. In these challenging times it will cost us money to have unsaleable items taken away so we are really keen to receive only good quality saleable clothes, accessories, homeware and bric-a-brac.

“We also cannot take donations of stock at our two hospices – Ty Gobaith in Conwy and Hope House in Oswestry – to safeguard our children and families and would ask supporters to please not leave them outside the hospice doors.”

More details about what stock donations will be welcomed can be found on their website - www.hopehouse.org.uk/donate-goods.