A Kenilworth boutique charity shop is celebrating its fifth anniversary - and a recent award success.

Pre-loved Emporium first opened its doors in Millar Court in December 2020, "offering something different" to the town.

Run in support of the Samaritans, the town centre boutique stocks a wide range of second-hand clothes and goods, including a large amount of designer and high-end items.

And with sales and customer numbers "going through the roof", Pre-loved Emporium's Katie Best said she was "very proud" of how the shop has grown.

"I do feel proud," she told Nub News.

"Sales have grown massively so the Samaritans are very happy!

"We also have 12 volunteers now - my volunteers are amazing."

A team of 12 'amazing' volunteers also help run Pre-loved Emporium (image by Nub News)

She added: "We are still getting a lot of great donations - we've got lots of winter stuff that we haven't even got out yet.

"And probably 90 per cent of our customers now are repeat customers which is great."

After opening just before Christmas 2020, Pre-loved Emporium was then forced to adapt very quickly as another national lockdown was announced and shops were shut.

The social media pages were quickly ramped up and the click and collect service was then launched before the shop could eventually reopen properly.

And as well as celebrating its fifth anniversary this week, Pre-loved Emporium is also celebrating winning 'Sustainable Business of the Year' at The Worthies awards ceremony last month.

"The awards were so well organised by the Chamber of Trade - they did such a good job, making it a real fun night," Katie said.

"We met some lovely people from all the local businesses. 

"It was great; I didn't dream that we'd win."

She added: "Winning that award has given me a real boost to know that we're doing something right."

Pre-loved Emporium first opened its doors in December 2020 (image by James Smith)

Thanks to the generous number of donations, Pre-loved Emporium is currently stocking lots of winter clothes as well as partywear, and regularly rotates its stock to make sure there is always something new for customers to see.

Prom dresses have also taken off recently with young customers, and in 2023 the shop was lucky enough to be given a number of designer wedding dresses to sell - one of which was re-donated by the bride after her wedding.

And as business continues to grow, Katie was keen to stress the importance of the money raised which goes to support the work of the Samaritans in South Warwickshire.

"The Samaritans, I had fundraised for them for over 25 years when I had my recruitment business in Stratford," she said. 

"My dad has also been a listening volunteer since he was 21 - he's now 75!  

"So it's a charity that's very close to my heart. 

"Obviously they're in real need of more listening volunteers and support at the moment because of the mental health crisis.

"We are linked to the Stratford-upon-Avon branch, which covers Kenilworth, Leamington, Warwick and all the villages in between.

"So all the money we raise goes to funding, keeping their branch going, which is fantastic."

To find out more about Pre-loved Emporium, head to the Facebook page here and check out the Instagram page here.