The excellent Never Too Old Charity Shop in Claregalway recently won three Awards at the Irish Charity Shops Association 2020 Awards (ICSA ) – Coming 1st Place for ‘Shop Manager of the Year’, second Place for ‘Best Shop Team of the Year’ and third Place for ‘Best On-line Presence’ This has created great delight and joy for the team and local communities, and represents an amazing achievement for this local shop.
The NTO shop located in Cois Chlair, Claregalway, has been trading since 2013 and has grown and expanded over the years with an dedicated team of 40 active volunteers. The NTO Team have worked relentlessly over the last 20 months to keep the shop open and manage donations which have increased phenomenally since the pandemic, all of which are kindly donated by the public.
A high standard of women’s, men’s and children’s clothes are available as well as toys, books and miscellaneous bric-a-brac. The shop also sells furniture and is now offering a ‘collection and delivery service’ within a 30k radius for a small charge. NTO also have a large selection of ‘On-line sales’ available on Thriftify.ie The ICSA puts the social value (combined worth of employees, trainees and volunteers ) at €42 million for 2020 and the environmental value was calculated as 106,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions saved – meaning 14,775 tonnes were diverted from waste streams. Understandably, the NTO team is delighted to be part of this great initiative.
The NTO shop is opened daily from 10am to 5pm Mondays to Saturdays and supports the activities of the Claregalway Day Care Centre which provides a place for seniors to come and visit, enjoy social interaction and take part in various activities as well as enjoy educational programmes to enable them to continue living independently.
As well as raising funds for the Centre, the shop provides a sustainable recycling service. Volunteers and a small number of trainees man the shop and work in the sorting centre daily evaluating, preparing and pricing donated items for sale. Donations of clean, resaleable goods are always appreciated during the shop opening hours; donors of furniture should phone the shop in advance at 085 261 5247 and arrange directly with the furniture team for collections and deliveries.
Festive clothes, Christmas presents of lovely ornaments, china, delph, giftware, toys and miscellaneous items, cookery and gardening books make for great gifts. Gift vouchers are also available. Definitely worth a visit to this amazing shop and their wonderful team.
Never Too Old Charity Shop, Cois Chlair, Claregalway. [email protected] Main Shop Number: 087 713 2690
