Welcome to the Emporium of Loveliness

Clothes and more...

If you have a passion for beautiful clothes, retro fashion, quirky designs and unusual fabrics as well as jewellery, lingerie and accessories for ladies, men and children, along with a range of soft furnishings and home ware items then you will love The Emporium of Loveliness charity boutiques.

We have shops in Swindon and attend community events, retro fairs and festivals.

All our profits, gift aid raised on donations and our collection pot funds go straight to Empower the Gambia (charity no 1161200). Additionally any donations suitable for our libraries, schools, medical centres and gardens are sent out in quarterly shipments to support women and children projects in rural Gambia.

Visit our Vinted shop

About Us

Swindon

Starting with car boot sales, pop up events and fashion nights to raise funds for Empower the Gambia, Jo opened the first charity boutique in the Tented Market in 2015.

The Emporium of Loveliness quickly established itself as a unique charity shop experience – fabulous fashions, real vintage clothing and all at ‘cheap as chips’ prices. We became popular with students, forever 40s and the retro fans as well as those people who love a bargain!

After loosing a battle to save the Tented Market we moved to Commercial Road, Swindon expanding our range and developing the mantra “Brand new, designer, retro and quirky” along with a superb vinyl collection and a reputation for the unusual. We closed this shop in 2018 to concentrate on our other shops in Marlborough, Malmesbury, Stroud and Bristol.

However in 2020 we were offered a rent and rates free shop at 29 The Parade on a 3 year lease. This has been extended for another 3 years so we decided to close our other rent charging shops and now all our fabulous stock is on two floors. Fashion, a huge selection of books, music and games along with jewellery and beauty occupy the ground floor. Upstairs we have a recently expanded homeware and occasional wear on the second floor while our depot is on the third floor. Its like we’ve never been away!

We have some fabulous supporters, donors and customers and we take on work experience and Duke of Edinburgh students. Please pop into the shop to discuss with us if you would like to volunteer.

Contact Us

We love to hear from you...

Our contact details

Volunteer

We love our volunteers!

 If you can spare an hour or more a week we would love to hear from you. Helping out in our Swindon depot, sorting clothes in the shop, a spot of ironing, taking part in our regular photo shoots or even coming along to help at our pop up shops at retro fairs, festival and community events – there is something for everyone!

Support Us

Donations – we love to receive your unwanted items into our shops. The best get sold in our shops, those suitable for our Gambian projects get sent out in quarterly shipments and the worst get recycled so nothing goes to waste!

Items need for Gambia:

  • Educational materials – books, stationery, computers, teaching aids
  • Medical equipment, first aid materials and medicines (in date in sealed packaging please)
  • Sports equipment and kit
  • Garden tools, organic gardening books, livestock rearing books
  • Good quality bras, t-shirts, children’s clothes and shoes
  • Bike parts
  • Hand tools
  • Sewing equipment including sewing machines (they get serviced for free before being sent out)
  • Plastic crockery for school dining halls

Fund Raising

Hold a cake sale? Sponsored walk? Car boot sale? Music event?

If you would like to run a fundraising event for Empower the Gambia we can help you with fundraising ideas, templates, publicity materials and as much support as you need to make your event go well.