Christmas shopping: Family-run re-usable goods store in Northampton saves 'tonnes and tonnes' of items from going to landfill every week

A family-run recycling shop in Northampton has spoken out about how they save 'tonnes and tonnes' of items from going to landfill, the importance of re-usable goods and their Christmas stock.

In the run up to Christmas, the Chronicle and Echo is celebrating and promoting the best of local businesses in a bid to get more people out shopping locally.

The third shop in our coverage is Timewarp Reclaim Reuse in Milton Street, Kingsley, which is owned by Rose Reynolds and her husband Andrew, with daughter Ellen working on the shop floor.

The business started in 2019 after being given approval by the former Northamptonshire County Council to collect items from household recyling waste centres and sell them on.

The shop moved from Edith Street to Kingsley in February 2020, a month before the pandemic hit, which came as a 'shock' to the family.

Rose said: "As soon as we opened the pandemic hit. It was shocking, really. We didn't know what to do initially. The first lockdown everything was shut.

"But this is an opportunity we have been given and we are throwing ourselves into it.

"There's always been something like this out there, it's just the people running it have changed .

"The shop is huge and has a lot of space. We've also got space outside with a great big yard and an outdoor barn - this is a business where you need a big shop.

"The items don't go into the tip, the items are collected at the ramps by our tip handlers, Paul and Matthew, who are part of the family too.

"If it's something we can resell then it gets put to one side. Then we get about three to four deliveries a week and we start to sort out the condition of the items, they will either go into the shop to be resold, or go into the outdoor barn on site for upsellers to buy it quite cheap.

"The amount of things people throw away, and the new things they throw away, is extraordinary - one Christmas there was a bag full of unopened presents just chucked.

"We are saving tonnes and tonnes of things from going to landfill every week."

The shop sells 'absolutely everything', according to Rose, including clothes, furniture, wood, books, plant pots, astro turf and much more.

She said: "People are shocked when they come in and see what we have. We get lots of random, bizarre things sometimes. You would be surprised about what we have and the prices they are at - we do absolutely everything.

"Some people think we get it all for free but we have to pay for it, that's the one misconception.

"I think a lot of people like coming to the shop because they know we are saving many things from going to landfill - I think that's why we are quite popular. But every day we still have people say, 'I didn't realise you're here'."

In the run up to Christmas, Rose said how important it is to shop local and urged customers to take a look at the shop's festive area.

She said: "I'd like to say, give us a go first before you go to the big shops. It's so important to shop local - we need new customers to survive.

"We're currently selling a lot of Christmas bits. We have got a lot of second hand trees, baubles, tinsel, lights, everything, and it's all in one area of the shop.

"And going forward, we're looking to open a café in the shop because my husband is an ex-chef. So when people come they can have a mooch around and get a coffee."