The charity is making the move after its retail operation was forecast to make a £1.5m loss this financial year
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ThedisabilitycharityScopeisconsultingonplanstocloseslightlymorethanhalfofitscharityshopswithin18months,afteritsretailoperationswereforecasttomakea£1.5mlossthisfinancialyear.
Theconsultation,whichisopenuntilthebeginningofMarch,includesproposalstoclose77ofthecharity’s138shops.
Iftheplansgoahead,upto200ofthedisabilitycharity’s458retailstaffcouldlosetheirjobs.About2,000ofthecharity’s4,337shopvolunteerswouldalsobeaffected.
MarkHodgkinson,chiefexecutiveofScope,toldThirdSectorthatalthoughitscharityshopshadmadea“realcontributiontoraisingvitalincome”tosupportthecharity’swork,severalexternalfactorshave“definitelymadetradingharder”.
Hesaid:“There’salotmoreofusdoingonlineshoppingandthatmeans,insomecases,there’slesspeopleonthehighstreet.There’salsoactuallymorecompetitionthroughonlineinthepre-lovedretailmarkettoo.”
Hodgkinsonalsohighlightedtheincreasedcoststhathadaffectedh
