Mary Portas to launch charity shop

Mary Portas, star of the BBC2 show Mary Queen of Shops, is attempting to shake up the image of traditional charity shops, and is opening a new store close to Louis Vuitton in a west London shopping mall.

The store at Westfield London - which will be called Mary's Living and Giving shop - will be modelled on trendy London street markets. Portas hopes it will encourage retailers and well-heeled customers to donate high-quality clothes to charity. She said: “A lot of people think charity shops are a little bit smelly . . . and a little bit irrelevant, but I want to change all that.”