We are starting a sustainable fashion revolution right here in Selby and uplifting our second-hand shops to promote waste reduction and upcycling to create beauty out of preloved items. Are you in?

Shop for the Future

We have 14 second-hand shops run by charities in Selby, all working very hard to promote and raise money for excellent causes. The charities are local, regional, and national, and each shop has its own unique identity.

These shops also all face one recurring problem- unsuitable donations. Unsuitable donations cause waste and cost the shops time and money to dispose of.

The Shop for the Future project seeks to tackle this issues through several strands: helping our shops sort through and dispose of their waste sustainably; bringing local residents, creatives, and organisations together to celebrate our shops, their contribution to Selby’s high street vibrancy, and seek out opportunities to reuse and upcycle second-hand items, and running a campaign to educate the public on what not to donate, so we can keep reducing waste long-term.

The project has started with a Trail Map to show all the different second-hand shop locations in Selby and end with a Sustainable Fashion show in Selby Abbey on Wednesday 12th November.

We are so excited to launch this project, and hope you will join us on this exciting and innovative journey towards stylish sustainability.

Our Second-Hand Shops

Shop for the Future

What’s Going On

  • We have been looking abroad for inspiration about how things could change for the better and how we could reduce our waste. Two of our team travelled to the Netherlands and Belgium where they discovered a wonderland of closed-loop recycling, where products that go to waste are fed back into the systems that created them. Read more about their learning trip in our blog, and come back soon for more information on what they found out and the implications for our waste disposal systems here in Britain.

  • Did you know that the second-hand shops might currently have to pay to use the Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC i.e. the household tip) depending on whether they are seen as a business or not? We are in conversations with North Yorkshire Council around supporting the second-hand shops’ access to the HWRC and making sure that they have consistently free access.

    • However, trips to the HWRC are still intruding on the shops’ time, staffing and capacity, so reducing costs for them is a great step forward but the overall solution to this problem.

  • We have been featured in the Charity Retail Association’s newsletter and they’ve written an article about us on their website! We cannot thank them enough for their support for Shop For the Future and it is brilliant to have our project recognised by a national organisation. Read their lovely article about us.

  • We are recruiting artists-in-residence at our second-hand shops to create art out of items that would otherwise go to the HWRC. We want all kinds of artists across all media so we can show Selby off as a town of reuse, recycling, upcycling, and arts and crafts. There will be opportunities to exhibit your hard work across the lifespan of the project. If you are a local creative working in Selby and the surrounding villages and would like to get involved, please contact Matt.

  • Until 31st August 2025, we are running our very own Summer Holidays Charity Shop Game! Simply pick up a game sheet from Community House on Portholme Road or download your game sheet and find the letters to answer our question: What can you find in charity shops? An easy and free way to explore Selby with your family this summer! Read our news article for more information.

Keep up-to-date with all the latest information through our blog posts and our news articles.

Our Charity Shop Trail Map

With thanks to our funders and partners