Member Article

intu Metrocentre takeover a local charity shop

Finding team building activities with a twist can be difficult, but intu did exactly that. Sticking with what they know best, they took over St Oswald’s Hospice charity shop in Gosforth for the day. Using their retail knowledge, the intu team set about raising money for St Oswald’s in a rather unusual way.

St Oswald’s Shop Takeover Challenge puts teams of colleagues from businesses across the region through their paces by allowing them to ‘takeover’ one of their 27 region-wide charity shops for a day with the challenge of hitting a fundraising target. The team are required to manage stock, sell to customers and design window displays to entice customers into the store.

Currently sitting at the top of the leader board, intu raised an impressive £1579.95 on their takeover day on Tuesday 1st August. intu staff held a ‘bag it’ where colleagues donated quality second hand goods ahead of the Takeover Day to sell in the store. Team intu also held a tombola which included intu Gift Cards as prizes.

Rachel Bainbridge, from intu Metrocentre commented:

“We had a fantastic day helping the Gosforth team in their store, it was great to see the passion each of the staff members have for volunteering and making a difference.

“As a team it was a great experience for us, we’re all from different departments at intu Metrocentre - including security, environmental services, customer service and marketing - so it was great to see everyone working well together. I would definitely do it again.”

Clare Cannon, Community Manager, intu North added:

“St Oswald’s Hospice is one of the most recognised and hardworking charities in the north east and we are pleased to be able to offer our support as one of our nominated charities.

“All our staff receive two days volunteering per year, so we were delighted to support the shop takeover. Our team thoroughly enjoyed the day and we are thrilled to be top of the Shop Takeover Leader Board. It was a fantastic team effort!”

Siobhan Sargeant, Corporate Fundraiser at St Oswald’s said:

“We were delighted to have our friends at intu Metrocentre take on the running of one of our shops for the day. Our Gosforth shop is a popular hotspot and intu soon smashed their fundraising target.

“The whole team got stuck in running the shop and I even saw a ‘Minion’ running around which was great fun. intu have now set a new St Oswald’s record by raising a whopping £1579.95 on the day.

“Our shop takeovers are something a little different compared to your usual team building activities – and they are great fun too!”

If you think your colleagues could rival the amazing efforts of Team intu and run one of our shops for the day, please contact St Oswald’s Hospice Business Partnerships team on: bettertogether@stoswaldsuk.org or call Siobhan Sargeant on: 0191 285 0063 (ext:2129)

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by St Oswald’s Hospice .