Help for Heroes opens first retail store
Help the Heroes is celebrating its fifth anniversary with the launch of its first ever retail store.
The charity, which raises funds for wounded, injured and sick service personnel, veterans and their families, has opened a store at the St David’s shopping centre in Cardiff. The opening comes on the fifth anniversary of the launch of the charity in October 2007.
The store will be run by the Help for Heroes Trading division and will sell a range of Help for Heroes branded merchandise such as hoodies, t-shirts, clothing for babies and toddlers, mugs and car stickers.
Capital Shopping Centres and Land Securities, the joint owners of the shopping centre, are supporting the project within a wider programme of initiatives across the CSC portfolio. The move is part of a 12 month commercialisation activity between CSC and the charity which will see Help for Heroes having a presence in a number of CSC shopping centres including Lakeside and Braehead.
Never Miss a Retail Update!The new store was opened on Friday by Welsh rugby legend Ieuan Evans.
Joanne Skilton, retail and leasing director for Capital Shopping Centres, said: “All our retailers play a valuable role within our centres but it is especially rewarding when we are able to use our scale and expertise, as well as that of our tenants, to pull together to help support a cause such as Help for Heroes. Given the increased awareness of the incredible people H4H supports – which was particularly evident during the Paralympics – we are sure that the store will trade well within St David’s and we would like to wish them a very happy 5th anniversary.”
Emma Parry OBE, co-founder and executive chairman of Help for Heroes Trading, added: “We have always received such tremendous support from Wales and we are so excited to have a pop-up shop in St David’s, at the heart of the busy city centre of Cardiff.”
The St David’s store is also being supported by menswear retailer Moss Bros which supplied the shopfitting.
Paul Rooke, group operations director for Moss Bros, said: “Moss Bros has a long history of supporting our armed forces, dating back to WWII when the stores were used to supply uniforms to the military. Moss Bros are keen to honour our courageous troops and have donated the shop fit for the first ever Help for Heroes store as the headline support initiative for the charity in 2012.”
