Call for a charity shop on Coronation Street

A campaign is underway to persuade ITV to add a charity shop to Coronation Street. The street in fictional Weatherfield must be one of the few main streets in the UK not to have a charity shop. The campaign is the idea of Manchester-based Jayne Cartwright, founder of the Charity Retail Consultancy, which has advised and supported charity retailers for 25 years. She was inspired by the announcement that ITV had agreed partnerships with Costa Coffee and Co-op to appear on Coronation Street.  Viewers will see Co-op and Costa Coffee storefronts as part of a new extended Weatherfield set, joining the other shops and businesses in and around Coronation Street. https://twitter.com/itvmedia/status/958306745973137408   Both facades will be fully branded and open for business in Spring 2018 with other assets such as posters, bags and cups integrated across the soap.  The new agreements also include digital and brand-licensing aspects for both brands, enabling them to use Coronation Street assets and extend the partnership off-air. Coronation Street charity? Cartwright suggested the addition of a charity shop in a tweet to ITV: https://twitter.com/JayneCartwright/status/958389715354509312 The shop with its volunteers and customers would offer new opportunities for the TV soap's writers and bring home the value of local charity shops to a nationwide audience. Collaborating with corporate and retail fundraising consultant John Thompson, who created the successful #FirstFiver campaign in 2016 which raised an estimated £12.5 million, she then posted a Twitter vote. https://twitter.com/JayneCartwright/status/958435252632014849 She knows her Corrie history, recalling that there was a temporary charity shop in 1990: https://twitter.com/JayneCartwright/status/958478395079307264 Which charity shop? If ITV does see the sense in adding a charity shop, there is the question of which charity should be selected. https://twitter.com/shute_polly/status/958458406410641408   Various ideas have been suggested: a local North West England charity it could then become an annual or regular pitch so that other charities could in turn share the benefits the pitch could involve a viewers' vote, perhaps with a premium line generating donations for the shortlisted charities the Co-op and Costa Coffee could be invited to support the initiative https://twitter.com/JTCHANGINGBIZ/status/958474281205288960 https://twitter.com/JTCHANGINGBIZ/status/958467995608780800   One local charity joined in the conversation promptly last night: https://twitter.com/blueybaloo/status/958459509411893249 Jayne Cartwright added some more thoughts, as she shared the idea with national and regional news organisations last night: https://twitter.com/JayneCartwright/status/958608827317923841 John Thompson told UK Fundraising: "For many years Corrie has been a regular part of millions of viewers' lives, an institution that reflects the ever changing social, cultural and economic issues of our time. Our high streets also reflect these and it would be apt that a charity shop took a rightful slot alongside a Co-op and a Costa thus reflecting the true reality of co-existing commercial and not-for-profit retail in our towns across the UK."   https://twitter.com/JayneCartwright/status/958620561374109696  

from UK Fundraising http://ift.tt/2BFUoC1