New venture for charity shop

An artists impression of what the new shop will look like.

St Luke’s Hospice West Coast charity shop in Blaauwberg Road will be trading temporarily in a Parklands mall while a new shop is built.

Kay Bailey, chairperson of Hospice West Coast, said they needed to expand as they had outgrown the old shop.

The charity shop, which opened in 2003, closed its doors on Monday.

It will be demolished and replaced by a larger building to better suit their needs. The upgrade was very necessary said Ms Bailey as without the approval they would have had to cease trading.

“Our Table View charity shop site on Blaauwberg Road was zoned residential and we were only allowed to trade on a temporary permit of five years and thereafter for a further period of another five years.

“In 2016, we reached the end of this second five-year term, and in order to continue trading, we were required by council to apply for a change to our title deeds and make an application to be rezoned from residential to local business.

“We submitted a plan to council to upgrade the shop and final approval of our plans was granted in October 2017,” said Ms Bailey.

She said people had been asking why they were spending money on a “fancy building” and she wanted to make it clear that the new building was a necessity to continue trading.

The shop will be open for business in a rented premises at the beginning of November at Shop 13A in the Piazza Shopping Centre on the corner of Parklands Main and Link roads in Parklands.

Ms Bailey said they expected the work to take about six to seven months.

“We’re incredibly overwhelmed by the support we’ve received and hope customers will continue to visit our temporary location,” she said.