2020 – 2021 A Rollercoaster Year for Vincent’s by Dermot McGilloway National Retail Development Manager
On March 16th, 2020, we took the precautionary step of closing our charity shops in response to the emerging situation with Covid-19. Who could have imagined that we would face three national lockdowns on March 27th, 21st October and again on 30th December, in addition to numerous lock restrictions in counties including Kildare, Laois, Offaly, and Donegal? As we now know, the 3rd lockdown was to last nearly 20 weeks from December 30th until May 17th2021 and eventually led to over 270 of our essential retail staff being placed on temporary layoff. This 3rd lockdown was reputedly the longest in the world and it certainly felt like it! Whilst our primary concern was, and continues to be, the health and well - being of our family, friends, and wider community, it became clear that this pandemic and associated lockdown would have a devastating impact on our network of community shops and their fund-raising capabilities in addition to impacting on those who depend on our services.
28 | The Ozanam Bulletin
2019 had seen retail generate income of over €31 million, 38% of total SVP income, whilst we had received an estimated 14,000 tonnes of donated textiles, collected from our shops, OFCs and clothing banks. In addition to financial losses likely in 2020 /21, our shops temporarily lost many experienced shop volunteers who correctly followed Government advice to shield at home. Whilst this has kept our volunteers safe, it had a profound impact on our ability to operate our shops. It became very clear that our retailing model would need to undergo significant change if it were to withstand the initial impact and multiple aftershocks of this virus.
Thankfully, the creativity, resilience, resourcefulness and adaptability of the staff, volunteers, members, CE, and Tus involved with retail has put us back on the front foot.
