Page last updated 13 November 2020.

#1: Help Life Retail

As the government lifts lockdown and lets shops open, our Retail stores need to hit the ground running and bring in income to Life.

1. Save your pre-loved items

A dress, handbag, and necklace for £11? They could house a mum and baby for a day, giving them the skills they need to live independently.
Asummer top, jeans, footwear, and handbag for £24? They could keep the helpline and online services going for an hour.

Any pre-loved items of yours can be turned into money to fuel Life’s services. Books, accessories, bric-a-brac, clothing, art, DVDs, rag – we can use anything.

2. Donate your pre-loved items to us safely

Donate to a Life shop, clothing bank, or clothing box.

We can only take your pre-loved items at our shops or clothing boxes once lockdown is lifted, so please only donate when the doors are open.

Our clothing banks are always open for donations.

3. Buy

Grab yourself a bargain – and help yourself bounce back from lockdown! – at a shop, or online at our Life eBay or Amazon accounts.

Where are you?

Click the buttons below to see a handy map and PDF showing where we are:

Map PDF

When are shops reopening?

As of 2 July, here’s the situation:

In the week commencing 29 June: Derby Clothing, Derby Furniture, Breaston, Wolverhampton, and Nuneaton shops reopened
In the week commencing 6 July: No shops will reopen
In the week commencing 13 July: Blackpool, Rugby, Weymouth, and Kingstanding shops will reopen
In the week commencing 20 July: Manchester, Eastleigh, and Gerrards Cross shops will reopen. If lockdown restrictions have eased enough, we hope to reopen the Belfast shop in this week as well

We’ll let you know about the Leicester shop once we have more info.

All shops will reopen at reduced hours (09:30-16:00 Monday to Saturday) except for Manchester and Weymouth, who’ll reopen 09:30-16:00, Monday to Sunday.

The map and the PDF also include telephone numbers so you can ring ahead to check that the shop is open.

How do I donate or buy safely?

We’ve taken every precaution to keep you safe in our shops. Watch Charlotte Cox, National Retail Manager, taking you through what we’ve done.

You’ll find hand sanitiser on the shop entrance and exits
All shops will enforce social distancing
Your shop donations will be quarantined securely for 72 hours before being sold
Changing rooms are closed
You have a 14-day return policy

#2: Online shopping

a) Shop at Life online

Grab yourself a bargain online at our Life eBay or Amazon accounts.

You can also support Life by doing your online shopping – at no extra cost to you! Here’s how:

b) AmazonSmile

When you use AmazonSmile, Amazon donates 0.5% of your spend to the charity of your choice – at no cost to yourself.

Go to https://smile.amazon.co.uk and register “Life 2009” as the charity you support.
Then, log in to Amazon through https://smile.amazon.co.uk. It’l take you to the same Amazon site, with access to the same products, prices, and services.
Shop as you would normally, happy in the knowledge that Amazon now will donate 0.5% of your spend to Life.

c) Easy Fundraising

We’ve registered Life with EasyFundraising, which means over 4,000 shops and sites will now donate to Life for free every time you use EasyFundraising to shop with them. These donations will help so much, so please sign up to support us – it’s completely free and doesn’t take long.

#3: Do our NCFE Level 2 Counselling Course

Life’s counselling course trains potential volunteers for work on our Pregnancy Matters™ Online service, as well as anybody else who’d like to learn counselling skills. Learn more about the Online service, and its work during COVID-19, here.

Volunteering for Pregnancy Matters™ Online is a demanding but fulfilling role in a close-knit team of dedicated individuals. You can register your interest (with no obligation to continue) using this link.

Thank you for helping Life bounce back!

Help Life bounce back