A CHARITY shop in Oxford city centre has reopened after a two-week revamp.

The British Heart Foundation shop in St Ebbe’s Street originally opened in September 2003 and was refurbished as part of a programme to update and improve all the charity’s stores.

Deputy Oxford Lord Mayor John Tanner officially reopened the shop yesterday.

BHF area manager Margaret Richardson said: “We have been refurbishing a lot of our older shops.”

The shop now has new laminate flooring, new lighting, and a larger, improved work space behind.

Mrs Richardson said the charity, which also has shops in Cowley, Headington, Abingdon and Didcot, was doing well in the recession as customers had downsized from more expensive goods to buy from second-hand stores.

She said: “We have been actually been very lucky.

“First of all, we have more people who want to shop with us because clothing is expensive – so if they can come into our shops and bag a bargain, that’s what they do.

“In terms of shoes and handbags, we can sell anything we get in. Where we could be affected is in terms of people donating less, but because we are one of the only charities which do door-to-door bag drops, people are still giving us things.”

Last year, the charity’s 580 shops nationwide raised more than £14m — the most the shop division had ever brought in for the cause.

The St Ebbe’s shop sells clothing, accessories, handbags, shoes, books, records, videos, DVDs, CDs and bric-a-brac.

Mrs Richardson said the charity always welcomed good quality donations, and needed volunteers to help out.

There are currently about 15 people volunteering at the shop, which is open seven days a week, helping out with everything from manning the tills to cleaning and dusting.

Mrs Richardson said: “There are two things which we are always short of — while people are still being very generous, we never have enough stock and we can always use more volunteers.”

Anyone who can volunteer or has unwanted goods to donate should call 01865 726531.