Exeter care home opens charity shop
An Exeter care home has opened an on-site charity shop for residents where they can buy their own clothes.
Tors’ Nik Naks at The Old Rectory was officially opened last week. The charity shop, which is based in a room inside the care home, stocks clothes, shoes, scarves, jewellery, and books.
Carer Nicky Martin revealed: “The purpose of the shop is so residents can have the freedom to go shopping independently and not worry about money. I came up with the idea of using tokens as a currency because most of the residents like to feel like they are paying for what they take.”
She continued: “I want residents to be able to experience the feeling of actually going shopping without relying on someone to go with them. By having a shop on site, residents don’t have to worry about asking someone to help them go into town.”
Nicky was keen for the shop to be authentic, so the clothes are displayed on rails and residents can try things on before they commit to buying an item.
Nicky explained: “People sometimes don’t have many of their own clothes when they first come to live here and so we give them donated clothes. I always wondered if there was a way in which we could help people have what they need, but also give them some choice and independence.”
When the pandemic hit, many residents missed being able to go out and go shopping, so Nicky and her colleagues created a pop-up shop in a shed in the garden of the care home. The shop stocked toiletries that residents could help themselves to, but the limited stock and outdoor venue meant it never really took off.
Nicky thought carefully about how the shop could work on a permanent basis and offer more than toiletries, and Tors’ Nik Naks opened last week. The name is a nod to Nicky’s nickname (Nik Nax) and the shop also sells some nik naks.
Nicky enthused: “The residents absolutely love the shop! People that rarely come out of their room will now ask to go down and have a look. Some people will even go a couple of times a day just to have a browse.”
Residents can pay for their shopping with tokens earned from games and activities they take part in every day at the care home.
The shop is open to residents from Monday to Friday from 8am until 4pm. The shop survives on donations from residents’ families and staff members.
