CHARITY Young Lives vs Cancer is closing its Staple Hill shop in June – six months earlier than originally planned.
The charity first announced plans to close its entire chain of 13 shops a year ago, and the Downend and Fishponds stores are among those that have already shut.
The Staple Hill High Street shop, which currently employs two members of staff and has 14 volunteers, is one of six that are still open.
It was originally supposed to close when its lease ran out in December of this year but Young Lives vs Cancer has now brought the closure date forward, to June 29.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “We laid out an initial timeline of closure dates for each of the shops last May, and as that has progressed we have adjusted some of the dates to ensure we are maximising charity resources.”
Young Lives vs Cancer was formed in 2005 from the merger of Bristol-based CLIC and another children’s cancer charity, the Malcolm Sargent Cancer Fund for children, and was known as CLIC Sargent until 2021.
CLIC was set up by Frenchay businessman Bob Woodward after he lost his 11-year-old son Robert to neuroblastoma in 1977.
He founded the shops to help fund CLIC’s ‘Home from Home’ service, providing free accommodation for families of young cancer patients in hospital.
The Staple Hill shop has been open since 1990.
It will continue to take donations until June 14.
When it first announced the closure programme last year, Young Lives vs Cancer said the shops generated a net income of around £450,000 in 2022, but this was “a lower return on investment than the charity can achieve through other income-generating activity”.
Head of retail Sarah Wilsher said the decision “wasn’t an easy one” and the charity was “incredibly grateful” to its staff, volunteers and the local communities who had supported the shops.