Some of Oxfordshire’s charity shops have sent out a heartfelt plea for donations as they struggle to fill their shelves with stock.

And the economic downturn could be behind it.

Staff and volunteers at the Age UK shop, in Deans Court, Bicester, say donations have dropped to such an extent reserves are being used up and there are holes on the shelves.

Helen and Douglas House and Oxfam have also seen shop donations fall.

And chariities say falling stock will impact on fundraising efforts.

Age UK’s Deans Court shop manager Irene Saleh said: “We have noticed how empty the shop is. It’s unusual for this time of year and we don’t know why.”

The shop has a target of acquiring 800 clothing items per week, but for the past two months has not achieved this.

Assistant manager Stef Bridges said: “We have a big shop with lots of space to fill, but you’ve got to have donations to fill it.”

That picture was echoed at the Templars Square, Cowley, branch of Age UK.

Usually 150 items are put on display each day, but a decline in stock has meant only about 70 can be scraped together.

And East Oxford hospice charity Helen and Douglas House, which has 34 shops across Oxfordshire and further afield, said it was also struggling.

Retail manager Debbie Alexander said: ‘We have noticed a decline in donated goods, as people seem to be holding on to things for longer because of the economic downturn.

“We really need people to have a clear out and donate things like unwanted furniture, clothes, books and bric-a-brac.”

She added: “We are very dependent on the support of people in the community to run the two hospice houses.”

It costs £4.5m a year to run the hospices, 80 per cent of which comes from voluntary contributions.

At Oxford’s biggest charity, Oxfam, donations are down about 10 per cent year on year.

Spokesman Stuart Fowkes said: “We have been down in double figures for the past three years.

“It’s the usual problem with people belt-tightening during the recession.

“People aren’t buying new things which means they’re not throwing stuff out and donating it to us.”

But some of the county’s charity shops said donations continued to pour in.

Sobell House Hospice trading manager Louise Musgrove said the charity had opened a new shop in Carterton and a book shop in East Oxford this year.

She said: “Our donations are doing really well.

“We touch so many people’s lives in Oxfordshire they support us in return.

“A lot of the time people don’t give you a money donation, they will give you furniture or clothing, which in turn becomes money for us.”