The TEARS charity shop is a significant funder for the organisation, helping raise R1.8 million last year; the team is encouraging pre-loved donations to keep the various shops open.
Cape Town, South Africa (12 June 2024) – TEARS proudly operates three retail charity shops in Retreat, Fish Hoek, and Sunnydale. The charity shop arm of funding has been responsible for a significant boost in the past year. The hope is to follow on from that success, earning even more to go towards animal care in the Western Cape.
TEARS Animal Rescue has been rescuing, treating, rehabilitating and rehoming homeless, sick, abused and injured companion animals for the last 25 years. It relies on 100% donations, covering around R22 million each year. This cost covers welfare community services. It operates its full-time welfare Veterinary Hospital, three Mobile Clinics, and the TEARS Kennel and Cattery that supports up to 320 rescued pets, including those registered via its Foster Programme.
The organisation’s three retail shops, which operate in Retreat, Fish Hoek, and Sunnydale, netted R1,8M in direct sales profit that could be channelled back into supporting vulnerable pets. This is all thanks to the donations collected during those spring cleaning weekends. It goes to show just how much difference is made from pre-loved items.
Penny Koulis was appointed as the TEARS Retail Manager to help raise the profile of the three stores and maximise the profits earned at each. Pennu is passionate about sustainability and looks forward to seeing the growth in the charity shop department.
“Our thrifting business is not just a source of income; it’s a lifeline for our organisation. The global and local thrifting market has seen significant growth over the past decade, and although it was once considered a niche market, more and more conservative and mainstream consumers are embracing thrifting as an affordable and sustainable option,” says Penny.
TEARS relies on the public to donate gently worn clothing, shoes, accessories and pre-loved household items, including furniture, kitchenware, electronics, home decor, books, DVDs, CDs, and other media items.
The organisation provides a free door-to-door clearing, collection, and removal service to homeowners who are downsizing, moving, or selling their homes to encourage more donations. TEARS is currently netting just under R300,000.00 per month from its retail business, but it needs to more than double this to meet the financial needs associated with TEARS’ lifesaving rescue, treatment, rehabilitation, and rehoming work.
“While TEARS is all about creating second chances for rescue pets, our thrifting model is based on a “re-use, re-wear and re-love” mantra that we hope will expand our donor network, resulting in more high-quality donations. Only 30% of the items that our retail team collects from donors can be re-sold,” concludes Penny.
To help support the lifesaving work that TEARS does, please consider donating any pre-owned quality items for re-sale via the three TEARS Thrifting Shops and TEARS Book Shop, which contribute 100% of proceeds to fund 30% of what it costs to keep the TEARS Veterinary Hospital and Mobile Clinics, Kennel and Cattery in operation.
To arrange the collection of any pre-owned item, the public can call TEARS Reception at Tel: 021 785 4482 or message via WhatsApp at 072 270 5016.
You can also follow the shop on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrifting_with_tears/