A High Wycombe charity shop has revealed how the relocation of the town’s Primark has impacted their business.

Cancer Research, which is based along Church Street, was a stone’s throw away from the superstore until the branch moved into the Eden Centre on September 11 this year.

This marked the end of their time being situated within the Chilterns Shopping Centre, which now only houses a handful of outlets.

Upon the move last month, many volunteers from the charity shop were ‘worried’ that with Primark being based away from their premises, there would be a significant drop in footfall.

However, just over 30 days later, those who work at the branch have admitted things aren’t as bad as first feared.

One of the workers told the Free Press: “Things have been quite steady.

"We still have our regular customers and of course, some people do the rounds of the charity shops.

“They will come over.

“Maybe the footfall is a bit smaller, but that isn’t being shown in the figures.

“It shows that people are still supporting their local charity shops, but we have had some closures and the weather didn’t help.

“We are the only charity that funds research and we’re the biggest charity for Cancer Research, so Cancer Research UK is paramount in making moves when it comes to fighting cancers.

“Personally, and I might be a bit biased as I work in a charity shop, but if I’m going to shop in a charity shop, then I’m going to all of them in the town until I’ve found what I wanted, or until I’ve spent my budget.

“I’m hoping that those sorts of people return and shop with us.”

Whilst the Primark move hasn’t impacted the shop as first feared, those at Cancer Research are hoping more people can sign up as a volunteers.

At the time of writing, the store is only open six days a week (rather than its regular seven), due to staff shortages.

The Church Street business is also looking for a new assistant manager, as this will help with the store staying open.

They continued: “Things do look good for us, but whilst Primark moving will have a slight impact on us, things that affect us are stuff like us not having an assistant manager.

“This means we have to close the shop one day a week.

“At the moment, it’s a Wednesday, and that will have an impact on us until we get someone in.

“This will affect us with sales and donations and we’re losing 22 hours a week.”

On their donations, they concluded: “People will want to find that bargain and with Halloween and Christmas coming up shortly, they’ll want costumes and party stuff without breaking the bank.

“You can get good quality for a better price than what you would get from a store.

“It is amazing to see what comes through, for example, we’ve had a wedding dress come in.”

For more information, go to www.cancerresearchuk.org/get-involved/volunteer.