BARGAIN hunters gathered at the grand opening of Derian’s new flagship charity shop in Chorley town centre this morning (Monday).
Mayor of Chorley, Councillor Margaret Lees, cut the ribbon to declare the new store, in Cleveland Street, officially open.
First through the door was shopper Cherie Draper, from Chorley, who snapped up a dining table and chairs.
“I’ve been keeping my eye on the table in the shop window for over a week now and I’m over the moon I got it,” she said. “The new shop is beautiful – there’s plenty of space and lots of variety.”
The store is big, bright, and will focus on selling quality furniture, designer menswear, plus toys, games and accessories.
Shoppers were treated to glasses of fizz, balloons and Derian cupcakes at the opening event, on Monday morning at 10am.
Mayor, Councillor Lees, told the crowd that Derian House was close to her heart as one of her chosen charities during her year in office.
She said: “Derian needs to raise £4million every year to stay open, and yet less than 10% come from the government so the amount they need to raise is phenomenal.
“I’ve visited Derian and it’s such a tremendous deserving charity. This new shop is in a prime location close to the market so I hope it does very well.”
Derian House staff were on hand to sign-up new volunteers, with three people committing to helping out at the new shop in just a couple of hours.
The first new volunteer to sign up was retired hotel manager Maureen Sumner, 76, whose neighbours’ children come to Derian for respite.
She said: “I'm really looking forward to meeting new friends and getting involved. I retired two years ago and now feels like the right time to start something new.”
David Robinson, Chief Executive of Derian House Children's Hospice, said: "The grand opening was a huge success. The shop was absolutely packed with big queues of people waiting to get in.
“Our vision was that this wouldn’t be your usual charity shop. We wanted to put our flagship store in the town centre in a great location and make it big, with bright colours and uncluttered. We’ve got lots of good quality furniture, because that always sells well and we’ve got some new goods in there too, as well as some designer clothing.
“I’d say to everyone, please come down and have a look and spend some money. All of our profits go to help the children and young people of Derian House.”
Derian House Children’s Hospice is based in Chorley and cares for more than 350 families across Lancashire and South Cumbria. It costs more than £4million per year to run our services, and yet less than 10 per cent of this is provided by the government. For the remainder the charity relies on the generous support of the public and profits from our charity shops.