Ofxam: Charity shop in Lee-on-the-Solent to close in April - with no 'proper answers' for volunteers

The Oxfam in Pier Street, Lee-on-the-Solent, is reportedly closing due to lacklustre footfall and profitability, which according to volunteer Dr John Blackwell, is a load of ‘poppycock.’

He said Oxfam ‘regard this as a sleepy little seaside town and they seem to not think it’s sufficiently profitable to be worthy of moving’ instead of closing.

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‘None of us have been given any proper answers as to why we can’t just move the shop,’ he said.

‘They’ve said we can close and then re-open but what’s the point of that? That's just ridiculous. ‘We could just about move around the corner with a small van and barrows - they said to us Oxfam opening a new shop costs anywhere between 100,000 and 150,000, which is absolute poppycock.

‘I think we could move for easily a couple thousand, get shelves put up and things - not tens of thousands. It’s an opportunity for a bigger shop, a commercial opportunity and Oxfam’s missing it.

‘I don’t understand this as a commercially sensible decision, I can’t justify it on any grounds.’

Some volunteers, he said, could be turned off volunteering for Oxfam in the future, especially if they had to commute to Fareham, their next closest option.

Residents of Lee have said the shop has done a lot of good via its charitable work over 54 years, and that it was very popular during its operation.

Malechi, 23, a shift manager at the Penguin Cafe around the corner from Oxfam, said he was ‘surprised’ to hear it was closing.

‘I always thought it was quite popular - when I have been there they’ve always been very nice, there’s obviously a lot of people that do like it, so I suppose it has benefited the community.

‘Thing is there’s a lot of stores similar to it, a lot of charity shops, so I’d imagine some people would be unhappy but I think most people would just go to the other shops to be honest.’

Oxfam were approached for comment.