6 Jan 2016

Save the Children to shut retail stores

9:19 am on 6 January 2016

Save the Children is closing most of its retail stores due to a lack of demand.

Save the Children

Save the Children Photo: Supplied

The charity has 15 stores and will close all except its Kaikoura store, which will keep trading.

Save the Children chief executive Heather Hayden said the shops were different in that they sold gifts and branded products, rather than second-hand used goods.

She said it was no longer sustainable to keep them open, but popular items would be available online.

"Our handkerchiefs, our tea towels, our Christmas cards... while they're still in use, there's not the same demand that there used to be".

Ms Hayden said the charity would continue to focus on fund raising for children's programmes.