Caring and Sharing charity shop closes amidst rising costs and city centre issues
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A CHARITY shop in the heart of Inverness is being forced to close amid rising costs and low footfall.
Caring and Sharing has had a shop since it was established as a charity 12 years ago.
The current shop, based at Queensgate, opened in November 2020, and is now shutting down less than two years later.
Izzie Macdonald, founder of the charity, said she can no longer justify running the premises as she faces rising costs in rent, electricity, wages and rates while battling the dramatic decrease in footfall she has seen since the pandemic.
“We just can’t keep up with the expenses of the shop and low footfall in the town,” Ms Macdonald said.
“The whole situation in the town is unbelievably poor. No money is going to the charity and the overheads are far too much.
“Before the pandemic, we were doing really well. There is now no reason for our team to be here day-in, day-out.
“I can’t see this getting any better in the near future. I think the city centre is now dead. It is scary.
“Everywhere round about has ‘to let’ signs on them. It’s a city centre-wide problem.”
The main reason for the shop was to aid the charity’s work supporting carers and older people in the area. It helps provide activities and events for unpaid carers and for older people.
To ensure that the charity can continue to support people in the most effective way, Ms Macdonald had to make the difficult decision to close the shop permanently, which they will move out of by the end of March.
She is joined by her volunteers who are packing up goods, some of which will be donated to other charities in the area and some will be sold on.
However, she wanted to assure customers that the charity is still there to help.
Ms Macdonald continued: “We now have a fundraising team who will be helping in all sorts of ways, like going to the Black Isle Show and Nairn Show.
“We’re not going anywhere.
“I started the charity 12 years ago, the shop has been with us for 12 years and we have made a huge difference across the Highlands. We just cannot keep going for any longer.”
