“We rely heavily on donations from high street retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers,” says head of trading Carole Levy.
“What we get from them has gone up year on year. People use their contacts to get us stock, so we’ve got really fantastic shoes, jackets and coats. We couldn’t do it without the retailers.
“Because of websites like eBay, we’ve lost a lot. People have started to sell their designer stuff. They can also now sell off their clothes as rags for about £5 a bag — they’re starting to do that, too.”
Yet she reported that the stores, revamped in recent years, turn a tidy profit as “in the know” regulars — almost exclusively non-Jews — desert their usual Camden or Portobello Road haunts to hunt down the bargains.
“Before, they looked like secondhand junk shops,” Ms Levy acknowledges.
“The displays were poor, there were long dress rails with no colour coding. The shops had elderly managers who didn’t understand fashion.
“They were throwing out fashionable ripped jeans with safety-pins. They didn’t understand the vintage market. We made the shops trendy and upbeat, but not too expensive to put people off.
“We have Hermès coats, Alexander McQueen jackets, Christian Louboutin shoes, Gina Bacconi dresses, handbags, antiques.”
And despite “classics that you could wear to a simchah”, only a tiny percentage of shoppers are Jews. “There’s a stigma.” Yet if the customers are non-Jews, virtually all items are donated by Jewish companies or individuals.
One of Norwood’s two Golders Green outlets is a favourite haunt of Camden-based student Monika Niemiec, 22. “You find better quality clothes for a cheaper price,” she says. “I’m also looking for plates and bowls here. You have to search, but you definitely find good things.”
Klara Motycakova, 21, has just purchased a new scarf for £5. “I like looking for high street stuff, nothing expensive, but nice boots and jeans especially,” she explains.
Edgware resident Denise Bright takes her Bristol-based sister, Esther Jarrett, to Norwood shops every time she comes to London.
Trying on a black jumpsuit, Ms Bright confides: “I went to a wedding with a dress I got here and everyone said it was amazing. I’ve
been shopping here for five years. It’s all good stuff — plenty of designer.”
The charity shop operation — which also makes £4.50 for every 10 kilos of “rag bags” of unsellable items — currently contributes £850,000 to the Norwood coffers, a significant element of its £12 million budgetary requirement beyond statutory aid.
“Our charity shops help us to raise the vital funds we need to deliver care and support to thousands of people in the community,” says Norwood chief executive Elaine Kerr. “We are incredibly fortunate to have valued volunteers working as sales assistants.
Therefore, our overheads are reduced, so most of the money raised through our shops will directly benefit our services.
We’re often told that we don’t seem like a charity shop, from Berlin on the Kindertransport and went on to serve as an lieutenant commander in the Navy — makes time to volunteer in a Golders Green outlet during chemotherapy treatment for cancer. “I just work around it,” says the 79-year-old, who is manning a cash register.
“It’s important to give something back.”
Among the competition for the Norwood stores in Golders Green are shops supporting the Jewish Associaton for Mental Illness and All Aboard.
The latter, which became a registered charity in 2008, runs 19 shops (including one in Manchester) with an overall £200,000 annual target being split among 60 charities, the vast majority Jewish.
In contrast to Norwood, All Aboard chief executive Carol Marks reports no drop in contributions from community members.
“Around 10 to 15 per cent of our stuff is from retailers, the rest is from our collections. We’ve been lucky. We’re not suffering as badly as other charities.
“Ninety per cent of donations come from the Jewish community, but 80 per cent of our shoppers aren’t Jewish. Shoppers here
Know they’re getting high quality goods, antiques and jewellery. We get dealers coming in all the time.” Corporate donors include Jenny Packham, a designer brand favoured by celebrities and some younger royals, the Duchess of Cambridge among them.
At the wellfairshop in Leeds, which raises an average £50,000 annually for Leeds Jewish Welfare Board, local Jews happily take advantage of high end goods at lesser prices, accounting for 50 per cent of its custom.
“We’re the Harvey Nichols of charity shops,” claims fundraising manager Meirav Sasson. “A stylist comes in every month as a volunteer to theme the windows. It’s more upmarket. People know they’re going to get something good. We get quite a lot of vintage — dressy stuff.”
Yet “three years ago we got a lot more Gucci”, adds Ms Sasson, who once bought herself a pair of Gucci heels for £8 from the shop.
“More people have started to sell their higher end stuff on websites like eBay.”
