Lesley Taylor, Solent University, Southampton,
St Mags: Fashion at the heart of the community
Introduction
St. Margaret’s Community Church (known as ‘St. Mags’) ‘Community Shop’ in Southsea, Portsmouth (UK) is an inclusive, affordable second-hand clothing and bookshop within a church. It sells good quality High Street fashion at lower prices than the charity shops in the area. The author interviewed volunteers that run the shop and gleaned much information about the demographic, best sellers and how the shop serves the community in more ways than just retailing. This work will focus on the community element of the shop. Quotes from the volunteers are used within this case study.
A church may well be viewed as an unexpected place to shop for quality, preloved clothing hence giving the shop a uniqueness within the community. The Community Shop is deliberately not marketed as a charity shop but sees itself more as a place for the community to visit for many different reasons – “for companionship, safety and warmth, to be greeted by a smiling face and to buy nice things without spending a fortune” (anon, 2023).
Items are generally priced between £1 and £3 and two thirds of donations are of a high enough quality to be sold, with the remaining third being sold by the kilo as ‘rags’ to textile recycling companies. Volunteers select and curate the stock each week, merchandising the women’s clothing by ‘new in’ (a standalone rail), then by colour in the main built in shop fitted area. Clothes on the rails reflect the season. Shoes and jewellery are merchandised by product type. Brands seen within the shop including Ralph Lauren, Whistles, All Saints and & Other Stories, which often sit alongside regulars Monsoon, Marks and Spencer, Next and Top Shop.
Second hand clothing in the UK
To put the Community Shop into context of the wider second-hand clothing market in the UK, it is reported that between 2016 and 2020, £746,000,000 was spent in UK charity shops. In 2020 there were 3,820 specialised outlets selling second hand goods and year on year (2021 to 2022) the index number of sales per week rose from 106 to 121.9, showing a growing trend and the highest sales figure in 9 consecutive years. The main key motivations for purchasing second hand goods were reported in 2021 to be value and sustainability (Statista 2023).
Mintel’s 2019 report ‘The rise of second-hand fashion’ states “As people become more aware of the impact that producing fashion items has on the environment many are turning to the second-hand market to update their style in a way that is not only kinder to their wallets but also can make them feel like they are doing something good for the planet” (Baram 2019).
Location of St. Margaret’s Community Shop
Southsea is a vibrant part of Portsmouth, a working-class city that hosts a large University, on the south coast of England. The area has many small, independent retailers, bars, restaurants and art projects and the community is vibrant and creative. There are many charity shops and a few established independent stores selling vintage clothing. Some of the charity shops have areas dedicated to vintage clothing (clothing deemed to be over 20 years old). These clothing offers are appropriate for the widely creative demographic that live in Southsea; students, artists, designers, musicians and owners of small businesses.
£300,000 was invested into the refurbishment of St. Mags in 2019 and it reopened in 2020 with a contemporary layout including the Community Shop that trades from 10am to 2pm every Thursday and Friday. The redesign of the original interior space was led by a team comprising a local architectural practice and the University of Portsmouth Architecture School. Architect Darren Bray explained “Church floor plans are like old market halls so lend themselves to retail and community activity” (Bray 2023). He explained that the success of the project is “down to group dynamic” (2023) referring to the Minister and this team of volunteers.
The volunteers at St. Margaret’s were able to supply information about the customer demographic. They observed a wide age range, and this is split approximately into 75% female and 25% male shoppers. Young mothers in their 20s shop for – and with – their children as they can purchase good quality children’s clothes and toys. Women in their 50s make up for a large cohort of the customers buying the second-hand fashions but the demographic goes well into shoppers in their 80s. There is an arrangement whereby homeless people or refugees can select any clothing they would like, and these are put through the till as a ‘zero sale’. Staff have autonomy to be flexible with prices if a customer cannot afford the ticket price and asks for a discount, but they are vigilant that these requests are genuine. The love for the shop is evidenced by one customer’s comment, “from a selfish point of view I like it that not too many people know about this amazing place!” (2023).
Best sellers are casual separates, children’s clothing, items from the ‘new in’ rail, and jewellery “if it is displayed well” (anon 2023). The average total sales transaction is between £5 – £8 and the busier day of the two that the Community Shop trades is Friday. School holidays see an increase in footfall. One volunteer shared that “people are buying what they need more than what they want” even at St. Mags during the cost-of-living crisis (2023).
When the church re-opened it gained much press locally and nationally. It was re-designed by Studio B.A.D Architects, and the concept has been lauded in the architectural press. Hugh Pearman noted in the RIBA journal “this project is a convincing riposte from one diocese of the Church of England, working with a small and growing firm of architects committed to community engagement and enlightened reuse. To use a bad pun, it performs a real service” (RIBAJ 2022). He further discusses that the new St. Mags offers a “space for services that locals really need” (2022). Kathy McEwan, McEwan Architecture Award judge stated, “It is working really hard as a building, offering a lot of different things in terms of its reach and connectivity” (2022). Studio B.A.D won the Architect’s Journal 2022 award for the project for social sustainability.
Now that the initial press about the design and the community engagement has quietened, knowing about the Community Shop within the refurbished church is often by word of mouth. The shop has many regular customers. The uniqueness of the shop (aside from its pricing) is its setting, in an Edwardian church, alongside a row of pretty ex-workmen’s cottages and opposite a historic graveyard in a quieter part of Southsea. It is highly visible along the main road it is situated on.
The shop has benefits aside from just the sale of clothes and offers a caring stance. One volunteer shared that “we want to keep it accessible for people that don’t have a lot of money” (anon 2023). Volunteers make sure everyone that visits is greeted and spoken to, maintaining a friendly and welcoming experience.
The Community Shop is one of the many services that is offered by the church, but it also generates funds to run the church and its amenities, as does the café and a children’s soft play area that opens for 3-4 hours per week, usually 30 minutes after the Community Shop has closed. Staff react to customers’ feedback about layout of fixtures and have been able to measure a lift in sales in some areas due to this. They observe that customers donate clothing, accessories and books to St. Mags “by preference, as they know it will go to a good cause” (anon 2023).
Though the church is not for profit, it was felt that the community engagement that the shop offers is as – if not more – valuable than the retail sales. The shop also serves the volunteers on a personal level. As one explained, she is not a church-goer, but she loves the clothing and the community, and it gives her a sense of purpose as she lives on her own. She brings her experience of working in independent fashion stores in the city to the handling of the product and displays. Discussing the covid lockdown periods when non-essential retail was closed, she said “it was ghastly when we could not come in” (anon 2023). The architectural practice is now working with two other churches to replicate the St. Margaret’s model – one in Portsmouth and one in nearby Southampton.
References
Studio BAD. 2023. https://studiobad.co.uk/ (Accessed February 2023)
St. Margaret’s Church. 2023. https://www.stmagscc.uk/ (Accessed January 2023)
Mintel. 2021. “Second hand shopping surge.” (Accessed January 2023)
Chana Baram. 2019. “The rise of second-hand fashion.”(Accessed January 2023)
Statista. 2023. “Second hand retail trade in the United Kingdom (UK).” (Accessed January 2023)
Hugh Pearman. 2022. “MacEwen-commended church broadens community reach.” (Accessed February 2023)
Rob Wilson. 2022. “AJ Small Projects 2022 winners announced.” (Accessed January 2023)
Further information about St. Margaret’s Community Church:
Youtube. New cafe and play area at St Margaret’s Community Church, Southsea. 2022.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6OhAYpWdgo (Accessed March 2023)
Lesley Taylor is a Senior Lecturer Department of Art and Music, Solent University, Southampton. She leads Re:So (The Solent Retail Initiative), Solent University’s unique retail store that encourages students and graduates to develop products to retail, promote their ranges and also manage and develop the store as a business. She currently teaches Professional Practice, Worked Based Learning and Introduction to Fashion Marketing at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Lesley’s Knowledge Exchange work at Solent has seen her write and deliver successful training programmes for independent businesses for two town councils in West Sussex, giving students the opportunity to work alongside her as part of their Work Based Learning module.
She has presented her retail led research at numerous London fashion retail trade shows, academic seminars and conferences. She has published academic fashion case studies for Bloomsbury “Consumer Reaction and Perception of the Physical, Visual Presentation of Debenhams’ Discounting : Prime Trading Versus Sale Visual Merchandising Standards” and “Experiential Learning Through Concept and Pop-Up Retailing”, as well as a co-authored book chapter “Designing and Supporting Extraordinary Work Experience” for Palgrave. Publications by the author can be found at https://port.academia.edu/LesleyTaylor
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