Oxfam is one of the most established and best know fundraising chairties in the world. The organisation has 70 years of experience working with partners in 90 countries on a range of aid and development campaigns. The acronym OXFAM comes from the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief and was founded in 1942.
In the UK Oxfam has a very visable high street presence, the largest number of charity shops,
with over 700 stores throughout the UK of which 150 are dedicated bookshops. Oxfam is the UK’s largest second hand bookseller, and the shop in Catherine Street, St Albans is a thriving example of this successful and popular fundraiser.
One of the 150 specialist Oxfam bookshops, the St Albans branch is a welcoming venue offering a wide range of reading material as well as dvd’s and cd’s, and a good selection of vinyl records – a surprisingly popular part of the music department. The shop also stocks stamps, old postcards, coins and other ephemera which are of particular interest to collectors. Charity and other greetings cards are also available.
Introduced to Striking Places by a volunteer working at the shop, the manager was immediately interested particularly as the shop was shortly to undergo a refit. It was agreed that the optimum time for the shoot was the day of the ‘grand’ opening of the refurbished store. As well as creating a 360 virtual tour, the team also delivered a collection of images for use on the shop’s website.
Most of the stock is donated by members of the public and the shop is very well organised with sections covering the ever popular general and crime fiction, as well as classic novels, poetry and plays. A wide selection of children’s books is also a big attraction for younger shoppers and quite often children can be found lost in a story book while their parents browse the shelves. Other sections include history; biography; travel; most science disciplines; cookery; gardening, transport; computer and self-help books; and even a good choice of collectable comics, and so on: a veritable treasure trove for bookworms.
Liz Paton | Store Manager | Oxfam Bookshop
“To celebrate the opening of our beautifully renovated bookshop in Catherine Street, the team from Striking Places, led by Jo Hailey, created the engaging virtual tour and collection of photographs, which can be viewed on our website.
Working in an efficient and friendly manner they produced professional results which appealingly display the attractions of the shop. A great job – thank you.”
# Interesting Fact No 15: Oxfam is a global movement of millions of people who share the belief that, in a world rich in resources, poverty isn’t inevitable. In just 15 years, extreme poverty has been halved. 15 more years and we can end it for good. Find out how.
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