Former Ipswich Next unit finds life as Salvation Army

The donation centre, which opened on July 22, brought in £32,000 in revenue during its first week - with £14,000 generated on opening day.

Store manager Julie Eveleigh, 56, has been delighted with the success and feedback that her centre has seen since opening. 

Julie Eveleigh (left) and assistant manager Hadley (right) have seen a tremendous opening of the centre. (Image: Julie Eveleigh) She said: "It's gone really well actually because obviously you don't entirely know how anything is going to go before you open, but we've been very well received by the community.

"We've had an average revenue of £14,000 per week since we opened and that is despite being in one of the notoriously quiet times of the year in August.

"These donation centres are all over the country now and are just going from strength-to-strength - we can tell these are what the community wants."

The centre has also seen eight tonnes of donations delivered by the public each week while their number of volunteers has sky-rocketed. 

Since opening, 35 volunteers have committed to helping out at the centre and Mrs Eveleigh is very grateful. 

The centre has seen 35 people volunteer since opening. (Image: Dan Laughlan) She added: "The generosity of the people in the area has just been amazing, everyone has welcomed us so well - we are so thankful."

Salvation Army's Ipswich donation centre is having a 'Bank Holiday Bonanza' between Saturday and Monday.

Bric-a-brac will be 50p per piece and media items (CDs, DVDs and books) will be 10p per item. 

The centre took over the former Next unit in Suffolk Retail Park last month after the retail giant closed its store in February.

Hundreds of customers waited eagerly when the donation centre opened its doors to get their hands on some bargains.

Mrs Eveleigh said: "We feel that everybody in the community should be able to afford our items. For example, you'll find nothing overpriced in the toy area, because children should be able to come and have toys."