With great regret, Quaker Social Action announces that our east London furniture reuse project, Homestore, has closed permanently.
The trustees of Quaker Social Action made this decision in view of a number of factors including the difficult financial climate for charities and retail, and the multiple practical difficulties of reopening Homestore and its household furniture collection and delivery services due to covid-19. A number of options were carefully considered including mothballing or diversifying the project, but none were considered to be feasible.
Since 1989 Homestore has served over 32,000 customer households living on low incomes, helping them to furnish their homes and save an estimated £4.3 million pounds. Homestore was one of the first furniture reuse projects in London, and it remains one of the projects of which QSA is most proud.
We have contacted our Homestore customers, supporters, funders and partners with this news, and would like to take this opportunity to thank them all again for helping Homestore to have such a big impact over the past 31 years.
QSA remains passionately committed to seeking innovative ways to help people living on a low income to address the issues affecting their lives, and soon we expect to be able to announce a new area of work for QSA which we are currently researching and discussing with partners.
Re-use furniture and ways to get financial support
We’ve listed some organisations selling and collecting re-use furniture, and ways to get support if you’re struggling with costs.