Saint Francis Hospice Opens New Superstore on Hornchurch High Street

Saint Francis Hospice opened a new superstore in Hornchurch High Street on Monday 30th September.

Eager shoppers queued outside and cheered as the charity’s patron, Sir Trevor Brooking, cut the orange ribbon before they stepped inside to browse through the high-quality donations of clothing, accessories, homeware, electricals and furniture. 

The former West Ham United legend and England International also spent time chatting and having photos taken with people.

“This is such an exciting day for us,” said Michelle Nicholls, Director of Retail, Health and Safety at Saint Francis Hospice. 

“The Hornchurch superstore brings together the two shops we previously had along the High Street.  

“This enables us to save £60,000 a year and help even more people who need our compassionate end-of-life care services

“Our shops are such an important part of the community, and we are so grateful to Hornchurch residents for supporting our shops over the past 30 years.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for people to continue supporting us through donating their preloved goods, volunteering or shopping with us.”

The superstore is the hospice’s 14th shop across its catchment area of Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Brentwood, and West Essex and follows on from the success of its Brentwood superstore.

Next week is Hospice Care Week (7-13 October) which is a nationwide awareness week, putting a spotlight on hospice care. This year’s theme is All About Retail. The hospice was delighted to welcome Toby Porter, CEO at Hospice UK, when he visited the shop in the afternoon.

“We are delighted about the opening of the Hornchurch superstore,” said Toby. 

“Hospice shops are a fantastic part of our local communities.

“They perform social functions in many ways. People can easily source good value clothing if they are struggling. We know many hospice volunteers come to the shops because they have companionship and purpose and most importantly shops raise lots of money for vital hospice care.

“Inevitably we would like a level of of resource from the NHS, so we did not have to open more shops to deliver our care, but hospice shops are wonderful things.”