Long queue snakes along shopping centre to be first inside new charity shop

Posted by author February 28, 2025 Shopping

Midlands Air Ambulance opened its tenth charity shop in Worcester this morning (February 28) with scores of shoppers ready to pick up a bargain.

The store is located in Friary Walk, formerly known as Crowngate Shopping Centre, and staff say that every penny raised is vital and goes directly into saving lives in the county.

Staff were grateful and issued a heartfelt thanks to the ten people who had already signed up to volunteer at the store before it had even opened.

Midlands Air Ambulance Critical Care Paramedics, Richard Apps, Rebecca England and Colin Shurrock-Apps looing around the new store. (Image: Daniel Kelly/NQ)

Emma Gray, chief operating officer at Midlands Air Ambulance, said: “We are delighted to open up this store in Worcester.

“We’ve served the community of Worcester for over 33 years and we’ve got our airbase at Strensham.

“We feel that this addition to our presence and community in Worcester is really useful.

“We’ve already had 10 volunteers sign up and that’s been a very positive process.

“Sometimes it can be challenging to find volunteers but it seems the community within Worcester is really keen to support this shop.

“We understand it (this store) was a much loved café in the Worcester region and we hope we have done people proud in the way we have made it into a shop and we hope it will be used for many years to come.

“This is exactly the type of shop we wanted as we have very high standards when it comes to our stores.

“We want people to come in and have a really good experience.

“This store will help raise funds for our vital cause.

“We do not get any government funding at all, so the only way our service is sustainable is through public support and each restocking of this stock will help go towards that cause.”

The High Sheriff of Worcestershire opening the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity Shop in Worcester. (Image: Daniel Kelly/NQ)

Following a brief speech and ribbon cutting ceremony from the High Sheriff of Worcestershire, eager supporters rushed into the store to see what it had to offer.

Three Critical Care Paramedics also stopped by to open the store and take any questions from the public.

Inside the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity Shop in Worcester. (Image: Daniel Kelly/NQ)

Richard Apps, a critical care paramedic at the charity, said: “It’s brilliant to be in another shopping centre within the region, which is fantastic and it’s things like this that support what we do from a clinical perspective. Without people coming in and buying stuff from our shops, we wouldn’t be able to do the job we do and go out and save people’s lives.

“It’s a really big store, we’ve got some really good storage space behind it as well because we have had a lot of donations, which is fantastic.

“It looks really good, it’s really well positioned and hopefully it’s going to have lots of footfall and people will enjoy coming in and seeing what stock we’ve got.”