THE new St Richard’s Hospice store in Malvern Link is proving such a success more volunteers are needed to step forward and help.

Within a week of opening, the charity department store on the Worcester Road welcomed more than 1,500 customers who bought 4,000 items.

Danny Corns, St Richard’s commercial director, said: “Due to the magnificent success of the Malvern Link department store we are on the search for volunteers with specific skills to help us. To keep the momentum up we need to constantly re stock the shop and provide a great environment for our customers.

“The success of the new store is down to the varied items we have for sale, which include furniture, linen and electrical items. We are unique as a charity in that we do sell electrical items instead of sending them to landfill. We are looking for volunteers who can be trained to pat-test the items for safety and therefore enable us to sell them within our store. Furniture is sometimes heavy and difficult to move and often could do with a handle or screw to repair them. So if you are handy with your hands, you can help us achieve a higher price for the products by also repairing them."

Mr Corns asked potential volunteers to call into the shop to see the manager to chat through volunteer vacancies.

High street shops are a charity’s face within the community and offer an easy way for people to get involved with the organisation by donating their unwanted items, and purchasing second-hand goods no longer required by others. Last year, St Richard's 18 shops across Worcestershire turned over £2.3m selling good quality clothes, bric-a-brac, books and furniture donated by local people.