Mary, Queen of Charity Shops: Part two

Last night’s episode of Mary Queen of Charity Shops was quite sobering after the cheerfulness and fun-poking of last week. For a start, Mary Portas’ epic struggle to keep her team onside was all but lost as one by one they fell victim to their generational mindsets - and by that I mean, you really can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

This week, the focus was on generating more quality stock and fewer crusty jackets and old nappies and to achieve this, Mary and few of her cohorts (including new side-kick, Brenda) went off to rally the troops and guilt middle England into donating some half–decent items. It actually went well and the good people of British Gas even threw a few little designer numbers into the mix.

But when it came to getting her ladies (and gent) to spot the gems, she was at her wits end. Pricing was the problem and in an effort to tackle this, Mary arranged a day of training for the team and invited volunteers from other shops to join her. Amongst the sea of grey, mainly female heads, it seemed the message was finally sinking in: suitably priced, quality stock + customer service = profit.

But after the high of Training Day, things back at HQ were grim. Volunteer shop leader and ex-football coach, Graham, seemed lacking in conviction for his new job and when Mary asked him to create a window display; he quickly palmed it off on poor old Rita. A roll of red foil and some sticky-back plastic later, and Mary was not a happy bunny.

And when she called up Graham on his shop-display shirking, the flood gates opened. Not only did he think Mary’s continually high standards were untenable but he wanted to quit. Ever the diplomat, Mary quickly calmed the situation but it seemed to have opened a can of worms. In a display of gut-wrenchingly poor people management skills, area manager Nick publicly chastised Mary for picking up Graham on his shabby window display. It was quite painful viewing.

Worse still, when the great unveiling of the new look shop was revealed, the silence was damning. Amongst the sleek, slate-coloured walls and shiny floors, was the glaring generational gap. Disgusted with the £15k refit budget - which could clearly have been spent feeding the poor kiddies in Africa - the volunteers were adamant: the design was tasteless, their regulars wouldn’t like it, and there was even a complaint that the carpet-less floor was too hard for their feet. Now if ever a reputation was earned, it's that old people moan a lot.

Then came the news that Brenda’s sister-in-law had handed in her notice. Things were looking grim. Even the newly-appointed shop manager seemed out of her depth. Still Mary kept spirits high and after a successful launch on a Saturday, the shop took over £900 in two hours.

I get Mary’s quest, I really do, and I agree that charity shops could be fabulous places to bag designer clothes at a snip but I wonder whether she will be able to bridge the gap between the modern-day consumer and the little team of grumblers who see the shop as their own, their lifeline. It certainly would be a shame if all this hard work was for nothing.

So next week is the final episode and will see if Mary’s venture has been a success. It looks like yet more spanners are thrown into the works as the reality of second-hand selling in the Orpington shop hits home.