Shop For the Future Funding celebrates Selby’s High Street
Selby’s St. Leonard Hospice and British Heart Foundation shops on the high street
We are thrilled to announce that Up For Yorkshire has secured funding for our exciting new initiative: Shop for the Future, all about bringing new energy and life to Selby’s high street. Shop For the Future has received £34,036.92 from David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire and York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority. We are one of 20 projects across the county. The fund is for projects dedicated to rejuvenating our high streets to increase footfall and attract both residents and visitors to town and city centres. We are one of 20 projects across the county, the only one from Selby. The fund is for projects dedicated to rejuvenating our high streets to increase footfall and attract both residents and visitors to town and city centres. For more information, please visit the Combined Authority’s website.
High streets are facing numerous challenges, including declining footfall, the impact of online shopping, and the need to adapt to changing consumer behaviours. North Yorkshire Council Visitor Economy Team statistics show that year to date footfall in Selby is down by 2.5% on last year and the median average dwell time is 20-40 minutes, compared to 53 minutes in Harrogate. In addition, there is an increasing urgency to address environmental concerns and promote sustainable practices.
Our high streets are changing, and we’re committed to ensuring Selby’s town centre thrives. We know that attracting more residents and visitors, encouraging them to stay longer, and creating a unique town identity are key. Shop for the Future looks to the growth of Vinted, Depop and Facebook Marketplace and the benefits of buying ‘pre-loved’ items, as a starting point for change. What we have now, is lots of second-hand shops run by charities, and we will treat them as a strength and a reason to visit Selby and stay for a unique shopping experience. Increasing visitors and the length of stay will in time, attract more independent shops and create a more diverse and vibrant high street.
Barnardo’s shop in Brayton
What is Shop for the Future?
Shop For the Future is built on collaboration with all of the charity shops, and we’re using the Our Zero Selby ethos of being community-led, having already consulted two focus groups. Shop For the Future aims to achieve high street vibrancy by creating a powerful, collaborative network from the 14 second-hand shops helping them work together to improve recycling, reuse, and upcycling practices, ultimately attracting more visitors, benefiting each charity, the local economy, the community and environment. This tackles the challenge of unsellable donations and helps to establish a circular economy right here in Selby, significantly reducing waste and promoting sustainable consumption.
We hope our community engagement campaign will also generate additional donations, volunteer opportunities, and new retail training opportunities. At the same time, we aim to create a wonderful visitor experience with shared campaigns, charity shop trail, and promotion of other reuse and recycle pop-up shops within the 14 stores.
Shop For the Future addresses the challenges faced by Selby's second-hand shops in managing unsellable and difficult-to-recycle items, which contributes to environmental issues and hinders business operations. The decline of high streets, influenced by factors like online shopping and the cost of living crisis, further emphasises the need for new ideas to enhance their vibrancy and sustainability.
Second-hand shops play a vital role in diverting reusable items from landfill. However, they face significant challenges in managing:
Unsellable items: Damaged textiles, glass and ceramics and broken electronics, and other non-saleable items accumulate, requiring costly disposal. Our research with charity shops in Selby shows this is as much as 50-70% of donations. About 30% of these items are collected by ragmen, for about 50p a bag, or recycled. The variety of items each ragmen collect differs and the price per bag has reduced from about £9 a bag ten years ago down to 50p.
Difficult-to-recycle materials: Many items cannot be processed through standard recycling channels, leading to landfill waste, such as duvets and pillows. Our research shows this is as much as 20% of donations.
Lack of collaborative infrastructure: Second-hand shops have little time to work together to develop effective recycling solutions. Our research shows there is very little contact between shops in Selby and little collaboration when it comes to donations and recycling.
Limited public awareness: The full environmental and social impact of second-hand shop recycling is not widely understood.
Selby high street has the opportunity to create an identity acting as an additional attraction to bring residents and visitors to the town and encouraging them to visit more often and stay for longer. The unique identity of each high street is its greatest asset, and developing this distinctiveness enables long-term survival. By celebrating and promoting the wealth of Selby’s second-hand shops we aim to reach new visitors.
Want to learn more or get involved?
· Explore our current activities, like the Summer Holidays Charity Shop Game
· Discover more on the Shop for the Future page
· Contact us via ozs@upforyorkshire.org.uk, on 01757291111 or through our Facebook and Instagram channels to find out more.