Circular Communities Scotland works to highlight the brilliant work our members do to support their communities. This month we’re spotlighting The Cairn Centre, a reuse furniture shop in Kirkaldy. The Cairn Centre has recently launched an online shop, with every purchase supporting local homelessness charity Trust in Fife, as well and contributing towards a circular community by reducing waste and helping members of their community to purchase high-quality reuse furniture.
The website launch was reported in The Courier, which spoke to Caroline McCall, CEO of Trust in Fife,
“The Cairn Centre charity shop has always had a great following. We’ve got a very loyal local customer base, and we always get a lot of good-quality donations in.
“The ethos of the store is all about reuse and being able to pass on good-quality items to others, enabling people to get the same enjoyment out of them that you did. We want to promote the message that buying from a charity can be just as good, if not better, than buying new.
“Getting the store online is something that’s been a vision of mine for a long, long time, but until recently we never really had the capacity or the manpower to be able to do it.”
Liam is the retail coordinator for the online store – in just seven months he has built the e-commerce website and created a system so that the team of staff and volunteers can keep track of stock, donations and deliveries. He told The Courier,
“The website is constantly being updated with products. Pretty much every day there will be something new as we’re constantly picking up donations – and a single pickup could be an entire house worth of furniture.
“Our aim is to offer great quality and great value. Because of that we get a lot of turnaround. As items don’t tend to stay in stock too long the online store is the perfect way to keep up to date with what we have and find what you’re looking for.”
In addition to the charity shop, Trust in Fife offers volunteering opportunities to the general public and their clients residing in temporary accommodation. Through The Cairn Centre the charity offers support, training, development and new skills. Caroline hopes that the additional income generated through the online shop can be used to employ volunteers or develop an employability programme to help individuals get back into work.
Trust in Fife exists to try and prevent homelessness and offers supported accommodation for clients who are going down the homelessness route. Liam said,
“There are so many backgrounds and so many individual stories. It can be heartbreaking. It’s every age, every gender. Homelessness doesn’t discriminate”.
Shop The Cairn Centre online, or visit the charity shop at 83-85 Dunnikier Road, Kirkaldy, Fife, KY1 2QW.
Interested in learning more about reuse projects in Fife or across Scotland? Take a look at our members map. If you’re interested in setting up your own project, have questions about funding, or would like to access support, visit our website to learn more or email info@circularcommunities.scot.