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M&S' Christmas penny bazaars raise £750,000 for hundreds of charities

Howard Lake | 8 December 2009 | News

Marks & Spencer reports that its Christmas Penny Bazaars have raised £750,000 for hundreds of charities across the country, including £250,000 for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal.

The high street retailer held two Christmas charity events in November. The Christmas Penny Bazaar preview event was open to M&S cardholders at 134 stores and raised £250,000 for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal. The main Christmas Penny Bazaar was then held at over 350 M&S stores, and raised £500,000 for local charities that had been selected by the participating stores.

The Penny Bazaar let customers buy a range of traditional stocking-fillers and festive gifts such as socks, mugs, money boxes and ties for just 1p.

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By midday that day, over one million customers had visited M&S stores, more than double the average for a Friday morning.

Sir Stuart Rose, Chairman of Marks & Spencer, thanked customers. “Everyone gave much more than the suggested 1p per item,” he said, “meaning they helped hundreds of charities across the country whilst still getting a great deal.”

The Christmas Penny Bazaars built on the success of M&S’ Penny Bazaars in May, held to celebrate the store’s 125th anniversary. These events offered two million items for 1p and raised £200,000 for hundreds of charities including Cancer Research UK and the RNLI.

www.marksandspencer.com

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