Charity launches online catalogue

Just one month before their fourth birthday Hope365, who rescue street kids in Ethiopia, have launched ‘Furniture Finder’ an online catalogue of quality, pre-owned items of furniture for every room of your house.

This development shows them taking strides to make it easier for people to shop sustainably as ‘fast-furniture’ and ‘fast-fashion’ are on the rise.

Retail Development Manager, Michael Steenson said: “We’re really excited to contemporise the charity sector with our more established high street retailers in providing a strong, online presence.

“It made sense to compliment our shop presence, in Ballyclare and Crumlin, with an online dimension, which is sure to appeal to buyers across the age spectrum and for the variety of needs in the 21st Century age.”

A user-friendly interface and easy to use, clear icons will allow anyone to access the available stock online from the comfort of their own home. This simplified approach should take the hassle out of existing charity retailing and put the control back into the hands of the user.

Michael explains: “We’ve listened to people express frustration at the lack of parking facilities in towns and the congestion issues associated with today’s volumes of traffic and we’re striving to remedy these issues by providing a larger space with ample parking, accessed during select periods of the week, where buyers can see the physical items and test the quality of what they’ve seen online for themselves.”

To check out the range of furniture, search furniture.hope365.co.uk

Sustainability is at the forefront of this new development. Michael added: “We’ve decided to challenge the modern trend of throwaway furniture by providing good quality furniture that can either be used straight away, upcycled or even re-purposed in some cases.

“Despite the wide ranging reasons for people donating furniture, whether down-sizing, redecorating or going for a different look, we’ve been absolutely delighted that people have joined with our mission to rescue street kids in Ethiopia by helping in whatever way they can - be that donating some really fantastic furniture, raising funds or volunteering.

“We hope that our online presence combined with the new warehouse, located in Dennison Industrial Estate in Ballyclare, will help more people discover this very convenient and affordable furniture solution. With so many different types of items - suites, beds, wardrobes, chairs, and more, all under one roof we believe Furniture Finder will be a great resource for people of the surrounding area and beyond.”

The new Ballyclare warehouse that houses all of the products on Furniture Finder opened its doors in Dennison Industrial Estate. The warehouse will be open Monday and Thursday 2pm–4.30pm, with requests for viewing slots also available.

Hope365 can also deliver any purchased items to homes within Co Antrim and the greater Belfast area.

HOPE365, registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, intend to support this exciting online venture by continuing with their three established stores, which are located on both The Square and Main Street, Ballyclare and their hub in Main Street, Crumlin.