'Queen of Shops' Mary Portas to open charity store

Published on Wednesday 18 November 2009 09:20

A NEW boutique-style Save the Children charity shop is to be opened this week by famed retail adviser Mary Portas.

She began working with Save the Children this year as she overhauled their shop in Orpington, Kent, for her BBC2 series, Mary Queen of Charity Shops.

She went on to help design the new shop in Stockbridge, which features stock donated by such well-known faces as Jamie Oliver and Lauren Laverne.

She said: "This is a shop for everyone and we want it to be a place that will inspire Edinburgh to give. The designer bargains in our charity shop will be fantastic and the store has the potential to attract people from across the whole of Scotland.

"We want to create a real buzz around second-hand shopping and make the old-fashioned charity shop a thing of the past.

"It may seem crazy to sell such quality goods at reasonable prices, but the money raised will be well spent and it costs as little as 5 to save a child's life."

Mary's Living and Giving Shop for Save the Children will open its doors for the first time at 10am on Saturday.

Rob McMillan, Save the Children's retail manager for Scotland, said: "Our Stockbridge shop is set to cause a revolution in charity shop shopping."