# Mary Portas to open Save the Children shop in Edinburgh

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/11/02/mary-portas-open-save-children-shop-edinburgh/
- Published: 2009-11-02T08:45:08+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**TV retail advisor and Save the Children Ambassador Mary Portas is opening a boutique
style charity shop for Save the Children in Stockbridge, Edinburgh.**

 “Mary’s Living and Giving Shop for Save the Children” will open on 21 November 
to take advantage of the pre-Christmas season, and, housed in a former HBOS Bank
building, will sell a range of designer clothes at bargain prices.

Portas worked with [Save the Children](http://www.savethechildren.org.uk) earlier
this year when she overhauled their shop in Orpington, Kent as part of a three-part
TV series, ‘Mary Queen of Charity Shops’.

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The programme culminated in a designer ‘pop-up charity shop’ in Westfield Shopping
Centre in London, which, with the help of Grazia magazine, raised a £109,000 for
the charity in just three weeks.

Some of the stock in the Stockbridge boutique has been donated by celebrities such
as Jamie Oliver, Peaches Geldof and Lauren Lavern. Grazia magazine will be topping
up the rails with designers items.

Mary Portas 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”.

This will be Portas’ first permanent charity shop, and she has four more in the 
pipeline across the UK. Her retail strategy agency Yellowdoor will be responsible
for the shop refit.

Save the Children will encourage Edinburgh businesses to hold a Donate Don’t Dump
Day – or ‘D-Day’, where staff can bring unwanted clothes to work and Save the Children
will come and pick them up.

 * **[Charity Retail Association rejects Mary Portas’ view on charity shop numbers](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/10/26/charity-retail-association-rejects-mary-portas039-view-charity-shop-numbers/)(
   26 October 2011)
 * **[‘Mary, Queen of Charity Shops’ airs tomorrow](https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/06/01/039mary-queen-charity-shops039-airs-tomorrow/)(
   1 June 2009)**
 * **[Mary Portas to open 15th Living and Giving Shop for Save the Children](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/09/02/mary-portas-open-15th-living-giving-shop-save-children/)(
   2 September 2014)**