Where profits have fallen

The charity shop profits UK charities rely on have dropped across several of the sector's biggest names, according to figures reported by the Financial Times. Oxfam's retail profit fell 23% to £4.9m in the last financial year, down from £6.4m the year before, in unpublished accounts seen by the newspaper.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF), the charity with the largest high street footprint in the UK, made a loss in the last financial year and has put 150 of its stores forward for closure. Cancer Research UK and Scope have been shutting, or are in the process of shutting, some outlets of their own.

• •BHF shop profits plunged from £18.8m in 2024 to £3.6m in the year to 31 March 2025
• •Its retail arm employs almost 3,700 staff, and the operation was reviewed in June
• •The charity cited "an exceptionally challenging trading environment"
• •It aims to close 90 stores by the end of March 2027 and another 60 by the following March

Why the secondhand market has changed

The secondhand clothes market itself has grown fast: UK spending on secondhand clothing has quadrupled over the past decade to £8.8bn a year, according to GlobalData. The rise of websites such as Vinted and Depop suggests that people who might previously have donated clothes to charity shops are instead selling them directly to other consumers.

Charity shops also carry costs that peer-to-peer platforms do not. Unlike Vinted and Depop, which connect sellers and buyers directly, shops face high street and warehouse rents plus the costs of collecting, sorting, pricing and storing clothes.

Overseas competition adds another pressure. Chinese companies are selling more clothes in developing countries, particularly in Africa, which has long been a major market for unwanted secondhand clothing.

Donation quality has fallen at the same time. Tansy Hoskins, author of Charity Shop World, has described the sector as dealing with "avalanches" of poor-quality clothes, as people use charity shops as dumping grounds.

What the sector says

The Charity Retail Association does not put the main blame on resale apps. Its chief executive, Robin Osterley, said fast fashion has affected what arrives in donation bags.

Osterley said the sector does not see Vinted or other online platforms as an issue, noting that some people split donations between charity bags and Vinted, but that the association believes the effects are significantly mitigated. He also argued the platforms work in the sector's favour: they normalise secondhand shopping, and many people buy from charity shops in order to resell online, generating significant income for members. "A rising tide floats all ships," he said.

Instead, he suggested the November 2024 budget had a much larger impact on bricks and mortar charity shops: increases in national insurance contributions and a lowered threshold affecting part-time staff raised shop costs, alongside inflationary pressures.

Oxfam's own filings underline the squeeze. Of every £100 spent in its shops, £6 now goes towards the charity's poverty-alleviating work; in 2022 the figure was £22.

Richard Hawkes, Oxfam GB's chief executive, said the sector has been affected by the cost-of-living crisis like the rest of the high street, but there is much to be hopeful about. The growth of secondhand, he said, presents real opportunities for the whole sector, but means the traditional charity retail model needs rethinking. He added that Oxfam's shops offer more than income, giving the charity a presence in communities and opportunities to engage with more than 20,000 volunteers.

What happens next

Lorna Fallon, head of Oxfam's retail operation, told the Financial Times the situation has been challenging and is going to be painful for the sector. Even so, Oxfam - whose shops focus on books and music - has no plans to reduce its number of shops, while the BHF presses ahead with closures running to 2027.