Search Site

Overview

We are team of researchers based in the School of Psychology at the University of Bedfordshire with interests in addressing health and other social inequities in order to build supportive and sustainable communities.

With more than 11,200 charity shops across the UK, charity shop retail is a large and growing sector. They play a vital role in recycling pre-loved goods, providing low-cost items to the public whilst raising funds for a cause.

Keech hospice care provide specialist care for adults and children across Luton, Bedforshire, Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes to those who are subjected to life-threatening illnesses. They provide a multitude of services such as inpatient care, therapy, rehabilitation and behreavement support. The care Keech provides costs around 8 million pounds every years and around 70% of their funding is made up of donations- a large amount of this is from their charity shops!

In collaboration with Keech Hospice Care we received funding from Research England to conduct a mixed methods study that seeks to:

1) Explore attitudes towards charity shop apparel, sustainability and fast fashion.

2) Conduct a case study of two Keech Hospice Care Charity shops with differing socioeconomic profiles (flagship stores situated in Luton and Harpenden).

3) Explore the views and perspectives of Keech Hospice customers, volunteers and stakeholders regarding charity shops and sustainable consumption.

We will continue to share our progress of this exciting project on this webpage!