Making charity count Since becoming manager of the Oxfam shop in Castlebar, Catherine Cunniffe has faced the challenge of competing with the larger retail stores, but it's a challenge she relishes The Interview Anton McNulty STACKED up high in the upstairs storeroom of the Oxfam charity shop in Castlebar is a mountain of black plastic bags filled with donated clothes from all over Mayo. The thought of having to sort through all those bags would give the most eager and energetic person nightmares. However, for Catherine Cunniffe and her staff of volunteers at Oxfam, it is the sort of challenge they face every day – but one they approach with enthusiasm.
When the position of manager for a new Oxfam charity store in Castlebar was advertised six years ago, Balla woman Catherine Cunniffe knew it was the job for her.
A fashion designer by profession, Catherine worked for charity shops during her time as a student in the Grafton Academy for Dress Design in Dublin. Life as a dressmaker and designer followed but when the opportunity of working in a charity shop presented itself, she could not pass up.
“When I saw the ad in the paper six years ago, I thought this had to be a dream come true. When we moved in the building was not even finished and we were painting and decorating to get it ready for opening.
“However, we got off to a great start because on the day we opened we had 70 people in the shop and broke the record for the amount of money taken in on the first day. Dún Laoghaire had the record but we broke it when we took in €2,500.”
Located on Market Square in the new shopping district of Castlebar, surrounded by boutiques with the latest fashions, Catherine knows the difficulties in getting fashion-conscious shoppers to pop their head inside her door to have a look. She knows that shoppers, especially women, like a bargain but is also aware of the fact that five-year-old clothes will not sell.
“It is very hard to please people with second hand stuff; there are too many sales on, and clothes are very cheap in a lot of the stores. You have to be very careful and fussy with the clothes you put down and ensure it’s not like a second hand shop. People will come in provided you put something that entices them to come in on the window. I would always put three or four of the same items on the window, which makes it obvious that it’s new stuff.
“I used not put my jewellery on the window but since I started to I have had big sales in jewellery. They are very good value but you look across the road and see Sasha has 70 per cent of the price marked down, and it makes it very difficult. I have boutiques beside me and you are constantly watching to see what is going on around you because if you do not, you will see a drop in sales. You have to keep changing, if you don’t change the stock every second or third week, you won’t sell.”
Despite being a second hand shop, Catherine says she is lucky in the fact that many of the local clothes shops give her their end-of-line stock, and she also receives stock from H&M. Oxfam cannot bring in the latest styles that hit the high street, so Catherine has to think outside the box, but there are two major factors in her favour.
“We get a very mixed crowd but the students are great, especially with the vintage clothes being so popular again. It is very difficult to get a vintage rail because you will not get the vintage donations because people will not think that I would want that sort of clothing. However, vintage is very popular and I have run the vintage line for three or four years now and I would sell it very fast.
“The students love to dress up and are very adventurous. The boys would come in looking for tweed jackets and clothes like that for going out. Even the younger people come in at the weekends when they know that some of our clothes are new. They love our H&M clothes because we have so much of them and they pay a fraction of the price they would pay anywhere else. When we get the clothes from H&M there may be a fault in them but we would repair the fault, sell them off and the students are delighted," she explained.
In the past, being seen buying clothes from a charity shop would have been deemed a social disaster for many Irish people, despite the lack of money in people’s pockets. The thought of what neighbours and friends say was enough to make people walk straight past the shop window without having a second glance. However, Catherine has seen a changing mindset in how Irish people view charity shops.
“I think people have changed because even when we opened first the attitude was, ‘God I wouldn't be seen dead in a charity shop’. However, I have found that has changed so much. You will always find the well-off person looking for the bargain but you will find the person with not as much money more conscious of shopping in a charity shop, which I found very strange.
“However, I think charity shops have become the place to shop and I think Irish people have started to boast about the bargains they get. I met a woman one day who had bought a coat in the Oxfam shop but she did not know who I was, so I tested her. I said to her that her coat was gorgeous and she said she bought it in the Oxfam shop for €5. I didn't know if she would admit buying it in Oxfam but I thought it was great when she did,” she explained.
The Oxfam shop in Castlebar receives up to 15 bags of clothes a day and on some days maybe a quarter would be fit to hang on the shop floor. Catherine admits that it can be very challenging and if the bags are not sorted in time, the backlog turns into a fire-fighting operation. However, she says she is very lucky to have 27 volunteers who give up their free time to go through people's old clothes.
“Looking at the pile of clothes they have to sort through, sometimes I wonder do they get disheartened, but they are great. Students are great during the summer and I would take on TY students, who are great as a booster for everyone else. Most of my volunteers would do a morning and an afternoon in the week and some would work on Saturdays. Not everyone would give up their Saturdays but I have volunteers working here for five hours. It is just amazing that they are so dedicated and so good.”
The Irish people have always been known for their generosity in times of need and despite claims that the Irish people have become selfish and greedy, Catherine has nothing but praise for the people of Mayo when it comes to donations. She said she was amazed how people responded to the tsunami appeal and the Darfur appeal and explained the shop was constantly taking in donations.
Catherine admits that there are many challenges with the day-to-day running of the shop and it does come with its pressures. She has to make sure all the bills are paid and the accounts are in order, as well as making sure the customers are coming in the door.
However, she says it is the work Oxfam does for the poor during times of disaster that gives her the sense of satisfaction in her work.
“You will have days where things will not go well and somebody will rub you up the wrong way, but generally the good we do is what we get the kick out of. It is amazing to think of the amount of money you raise at the end of the week and what it does.
“You will get days where you will say, ‘Oh no not another bag!’, but it is amazing to think that €5 makes so much of a difference. It is a brilliant idea and it is what keeps me going.”
