Scotland’s leading housing and homelessness charity saw an increase in sales in December, according to latest figures.

According to data from Shelter Scotland, its retail arm of 34 shops saw turnover rise by 8.5% in December with a 7.7% increase in like-for-like sales during the same period.

The news comes following mixed results from some of the UK’s major high street retailers.

Graeme Brown, Director of Shelter Scotland, said: "These results show that Shelter Scotland is competing competitively in attracting increasingly-savvy consumers to our shops.

"The increase in sales is good news and raises vital funds at a time when funding for our national and local services is being cut. Meanwhile demand for our services continues to grow - last year alone Shelter Scotland received 19,000 calls to our national helpline – and that number is on the rise.


"Our charity shops bring welcome income to make sure we can continue to help people in housing need."

Recent research shows that in the last 12 month 77% of consumers say they have visited a charity shop, with 58% claiming they had done so because they believe charity retailers offer low prices and good value for money.

Graeme Brown added: "At a time when consumers are thinking carefully about where they spend their hard-earned cash, we’re humbled that they’re choosing to do so in Shelter Scotland shops."

Allison Granham, manager of Shelter Scotland’s Forrest Road shop in Edinburgh, said: "We had good footfall in December and saw existing and new customers visiting the shop regularly. Nevertheless, stock remains the single most important issue facing our shop and charity retailers overall. We hope that people will continue to support Shelter Scotland because without their help and generosity we would not be able to continue our fight to end bad housing and homelessness across Scotland."

(GK)