Furniturebox gifts £120,000 worth of returned items to charity

Online furniture retailer Furniturebox has gifted £120,000 worth of returned items to reuse charity Kennet Furniture Refurbiz as the cost of living crisis bites.

The Chippenham-based firm is the biggest donor of KFR, which has seen a 25 per cent rise in activity over the last year as hard-up households look to save cash on cut-priced, reused sofas, cookers and fridges.

KFR manager Daniel Thompson said the charity was helping increasing numbers of middle-income households hit by rising inflation and interest rates.

“We have seen people in our showroom who would never have dreamed of buying second hand," he said.

“We are here to help anyone who is struggling and everyone is being a bit more clever with their money. We are enabling people to refurbish their homes but in an affordable way.

“We are a lifeline to first time buyers who have borrowed to the hilt to buy their place and are looking at ways to save when kitting out their homes.

“We need donations to survive and the best thing people can do is give us their unused white goods which we will refurbish and give to a good home and massively save on our carbon footprint at the same time.”

Daniel said the support of local companies such as Furniturebox was vital to the charity.

He said its donations in 2023 would help up to 1,000 households and provide a carbon saving of almost 40,000 kg.

Daniel said: “Furniturebox has made such a massive difference to us. We are completely self-funded and will go out of business without donations.”

Monty George, co-founder of Furniturebox, said: “We live in a throwaway society. This has been a concern of ours for a long time.

”Several years back we contacted a number of local charities to enquire whether Furniturebox could donate customer returns. KFR were keen to take us up on that.

“It is fantastic to hear of the vital work they are doing helping those most in need and positively reducing our carbon footprint by recycling household items.”

KFR has 16 part-time and full-time staff based in a 15,000 sq ft warehouse in Hopton Park Industrial Estate where the reused furniture and white goods are available to buy at heavily discounted prices.

The team has two full-time engineers who repair and refurbish donated white goods which are typically less than three years old.

A cooker from a leading brand which retails at more than £1,000 new can be bought by a family in need for as little as £100 with a six month warranty,

Sofas which sell for as much as £2,000 in shops can be snapped up in immaculate condition for £130.
It collects reusable items for free from homes throughout Wiltshire and has recently started a service doing house clearances following bereavements.

The not-for-profit charity gives away four per cent of its turnover - amounting to £2,500 a month this year - to those most in need.

Latest figures show that 336 households benefit from free gifts a year including 214 white goods such as cookers or dryers and 196 items of furniture.

Those helped include rough sleepers who have been given a home, victims of domestic abuse and those living in extreme poverty.

KFR, which began life as the Kennet Furniture Project back in 1995, has helped tens of thousands of Wiltshire households over almost 30 years of operation and also employs many local people.

Furniturebox was started by schoolmates at Bishop Wordsworth’s Grammar School in Salisbury when they were both 18.

In seven years sales have soared to £17 million and they are now making annual profits of £2.4 million which are being reinvested so they can rival Dunelm, Habitat and Ikea as one of the UK’s leading furniture brands.

The two entrepreneurs, who both live in Bristol, have invested £3 million in a new 88,000 sq ft new headquarters and warehouse at St Modwen Park business estate next to the Junction 17 of the M4 at Chippenham which will allow them to do next day deliveries on orders placed at 8pm the previous day throughout the UK.

They have just broken into America and expect the 95 per cent sales growth of the last three years to accelerate as they push into new markets internationally.