Shifting old furniture around

We spoke to CEO of SOFA Project, Nicci Peck. SOFA Project is a store that ‘shifts old furniture around’, selling household furniture and electrical white goods for reuse.

SOFA is a reuse and recycling charity and social enterprise; we support people who are on low incomes to be able to buy household goods and electrical items. We also provide work placements to serving prisoners approaching release from prison, as well placements for the long-term unemployed across Bristol.

SOFA started in 1982. SOFA stands for ‘Shifting Old Furniture Around’ and started as a very small operation ran entirely by volunteers. We’ve been based on Old Market for many years

It’s great working on Old Market; it’s always been a colourful area of Bristol and in the last year or so a range of new businesses have started in the area, which is great to see as it brings more variety for shoppers. People all know each other and we work together helping each other out, which is great.

We work with several other reuse and recycling groups. We also work in partnership with other charities in the area.

We have some very enthusiastic customers; the good thing about having been here for so long is we’re very recognised in the area and we have lots of repeat customers.

I’m hoping the SOFA Project clothes shop – it’s a room in our current building – will be up and running before mid-July. We’ve been planning it for a long time!

Anyone can donate items to us, either at our West Street store  or our warehouse at 3 Silverthorne Lane in St Philip’s, which is open to the public and has a bigger range of items to buy. We can also arrange to collect items free of charge from people’s homes if they call or email us. We’re looking for volunteers to work in various areas of the business, such as the  new clothing room, our recycling centre next to the tip in Day’s Road, or the Silverthorne Lane warehouse.

You can volunteer at the SOFA project

Volunteering is brilliant. I volunteer myself for Shelter and community groups so can’t rave about it enough. Volunteering can help you be more confident, improve how you feel about yourself, help you learn new skills, help you make friends and really feel like you’re contributing and making a difference. You can get a reference and even a job out of it. I’ve employed several volunteers in my last organisation and we’ve also done this at SOFA Project. There’s no downside to volunteering!

Next on the horizon is hopefully an exciting new collaboration with another charity, as well as further extending our great partnership with one of our larger retailers in the area to hopefully provide training and other opportunities for the long term unemployed people we provide placements for.

SOFA Project, 48-54 West Street, St Philip’s, BS2 0BL
0117 954 3567
www.sofaproject.org.uk