Blue Door queued out as charity shop reopens

A healthy queue was forming in Victoria Street Kirkwall this morning, Monday, as a much-missed charity shop reopened its doors to customers.

The Blue Door, which was founded by Rita Jamieson in 2003, has become a valuable asset for Orkney groups and charities looking to raise funds.

Now, after a six-month closure due to the coronavirus lockdown, the charity shop is welcoming donations and bargain-seekers once more.

“We’re so happy to be open,” said volunteer, Jill Rendall, who explained that the Blue Door will be running on an internal basis for the foreseeable future, but that money would still be donated to local causes.

“It’s so good to be able to see everybody on the street again. I think for some folk it’s as much a social thing, and a part of a day-to-day routine as it is a browse round a charity shop.”

With numbers restricted inside the shop, volunteers were pleased to see customers keen enough to queue outside, and not having to be reminded to physically distance.

Blue Door manager Lynn Laughton agreed that it was “fantastic” to be open again, and was pleased that to be raising money, this week, for Arthritis Care, in memory of former shop volunteer Clair Stanger, who she said would be “a big miss” to all at the shop.