Nightingale House Hospice to open “flagship store” in heart of Wrexham town centre later this summer

An army of volunteers has come forward to help with the imminent opening of Nightingale House Hospice’s new flagship store in the heart of Wrexham town centre.

In April 2018 Wrexham.com reported that the hospice had lodged an application with Wrexham Council to partially convert part of 3-7 Regent Street into a cafe. The remainder of the property would be used as a ‘flagship’ store to help raise funds for the hospice.

The building was previously home to Boots, prior to its relocation to Eagles Meadow almost 10 years ago. Over the years several other businesses have occupied the building – which has now been vacant for sometime.

Over the past few months work has been ongoing at the site, with the new store expected to open in August or September.

Once open ‘Nightingales’ will be the charity’s biggest store yet and will stock a comprehensive range of products including womenswear, menswear, children’s wear, furniture, homeware and upcycled furniture. Shoppers will also be able to enjoy refreshments in the in house café and browse a wide selection of books and DVDs in the store’s media centre.

It will become the 11th outlet for the hospice which serves the communities of Wrexham, Flintshire, North Shropshire, areas of East Denbighshire, Bala, Dolgellau and Barmouth.

Nightingale House Hospice, which provides specialist palliative care services, costs £3,059,405 million a year to run and relies upon the generosity of volunteers and donations from the public.

Hospice Volunteering Manager Jo Kearns said an “army of volunteers” has come forward to help Nightingale House launch its flagship store.

“Our volunteers make a positive impact in all areas of the hospice and our shops by giving their time freely to ensure the smooth running of our entire operation,” explained Jo.

“In February we launched our volunteer recruitment drive for our flagship Regent Street store. The aim is to attract as many new volunteers as possible to work alongside our existing team and we’ve been encouraged by the willingness of our community to get involved.

“We have received many applications from local people keen to help us run the new store. The need for volunteers is ongoing though and we encourage anyone with any time spare to consider joining our #Volunteam.

“We need volunteers to help with all aspects of the store and are especially keen to hear from anyone interested in giving time in our cafe. There are so many lovely benefits to volunteering. Previous experience isn’t required but would be helpful.”

“We are very fortunate that our hospice is situated in an area where people appreciate the work we do and want to make the Regent Street venture a success.”

Head of Retail John Donnelly added: “The new store is a huge project for the hospice and will be very important in raising funds to support our work for many years to come.

“Earlier this year we launched our #Volunteam campaign to recruit new volunteers to help us and we have been delighted and quite humbled by the terrific response from all across our community. Individuals and businesses have been very generous giving us their time, talents and skills.

“People have many different reasons why they want to volunteer; it can be to support a cause that is close to their heart, to help their community, to socialise and meet new people and be part of a team or they may want to get work experience or enhance their CV.

“It doesn’t matter what you can offer or how much, or how little time you can give there is a place for everyone in our #Volunteam.

“We talk to everyone individually to find out what they are looking for in their volunteering experience and match them up with the opportunities we have. We also have other stores all across north Wales and north Shropshire if getting to Wrexham is a problem.”

Anyone interested in volunteering at the Regent Street should contact Sam Evans on 01978 316800.