Competition winner opens new Age UK North, South and West Dorset shop

Age UK North, South and West Dorset (NSWD) opened its new store in St Mary Street on Saturday, July 4.

The charity asked customers to send a summary to its Instagram page on why they love Age UK, for a chance to be the one to open the store.

The winner of the competition, Rachel Bayliss, opened the shop and was treated to a private shopping experience, having the store to herself for 30 minutes.

With its newest shop Age UK NSWD is looking to integrate the retail element of the charity with the services they provide to members of the public.

These services include offering information, advice and footcare to customers and will be available directly from the high street.

Sarah Frigot, operations manager at Age UK NSWD, said: "We're very excited because this is a new concept for us, offering not only retail but also the opportunity for people to access our services in the shops.

"The shop serves multiple purposes and people can see first-hand that the money they're spending is being used to help local people.

“To have the opportunity to offer local people a service in such a central location is brilliant.

"Obviously the high street wasn't as bustling as it usually would be, but we had a number of customers throughout the day, it went brilliantly.

"Rachel had half an hour in the store to herself and was able to find some really good bargains.”

She continued: "Having to shut all stores for such a long time had such a financial impact on the charity, we were so pleased when the guidelines changed and we were able to reopen.

"The generosity of the general public has been phenomenal, we've been inundated with lovely donations.

"People come to us to shop because we try to make our prices really affordable. We have a lot of regular customers who are starting to come back.

"Where people perhaps may not be able to spend as much as they were before, it gives people the opportunity to purchase some really good items at an affordable price.”