Artist’s repainted bottle behind charity shop ‘boom’

A charity shop manager said his store smashed its daily targets after a social media star attracted hundreds of customers through its doors.

On Friday, the Nottinghamshire Hospice store in Gordon Road, West Bridgford, was the subject of artist Sophie Tea’s weekly charity shop hunt.

In a bid to support the store, she found an item and redesigned it, before posting on social media, inviting her fans to visit the shop to have a chance to buy it back.

Mark Robinson, community shop manager for the charity, said Tea’s visit caused a “boom” in customers.

Tea, who has more than one million followers on Instagram, came to Nottinghamshire for the 72nd edition of her charity shop hunt.

Prior to the arrival of her fans, she went into the store and bought a water bottle for £2.50, which she then painted in a local park.

She then returned to the shop and raffled the bottle off, with the winner paying the same amount as it was first bought for.

Robinson, who manages the shop for Nottinghamshire Hospice, which provides free end-of-life care, said: “I hadn’t heard of Sophie before so it was really exciting to see what she does.

“Today wasn’t a great day. It wasn’t looking like I was going to achieve my target and then Sophie shows up and boom, it was amazing.

“I’m really happy.”