Why shop in charity shops?

There are so many good reasons to shop in charity shops – not only for your own pocket and to make a difference to the lives of those that the charity supports, but also for our planet and our local communities.

It helps our planet

By donating your clothes, toys, books and bric-a-brac to one of our charity shops, you are making sure they can be re-used or recycled rather than being put into landfill. In 2025, our ACACIA charity shops kept 187,039 preloved items out of landfill and instead sold them to raise funds for our projects in Africa. This equates to carbon savings of approximately 336.7 tonnes of CO2. This is equivalent to the annual carbon absorption of roughly 13,468 mature trees. Read more about the environmental benefits of charity shops and use our carbon savings calculator to see the difference your purchases in our shops can make.

Use our carbon savings calculator

Two ladies smiling standing by a till in a charity shop

It helps local communities

As well as providing jobs and increasing footfall on the high street, charity shops produce a huge amount of social value. Working, volunteering in, donating to, or shopping in charity shops provides an enormous sense of well-being. Using the Charity Retail Association’s toolkit, we have calculated that our five ACACIA charity shops generated a total of £33,601,473 of social value in 2025 and for every pound invested in ACACIA, £11.15 of social value is generated.

Read ACACIA's social value report

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