Worthing shop set to reopen six months after flooding ruined entire stock

The community rallied to support Superstar Arts after its charity shop in South Street, Tarring, was wrecked in August.

The final piece of the puzzle was replacing the front window, which had cracked, and the shop is now ready to reopen tomorrow, Tuesday, February 14, at 11am.

Jo Sullivan, co-founder of the West Sussex charity, said: "It's all systems go for February 14! Come share the love. We have been closed since August 17 – six months – and lost £15,000, so we are really hoping to get lots of customers returning to the shop."

Donations are welcome but the charity is asking that they are staggered as space is limited. Books, CDs and DVDs would be good to take now but the rest, please hold for a couple more weeks.

Jo added: "It has been a long, stressful, financially-challenging six months since our little shop suffered devastating water damage. Thank you to Matt from The Corner House, Roy Kelf, Lloyd Davies, Tom Anderson and Rach for helping us put up fixtures and fittings, and to Worthing Lions for their donation of £250 so we could get new bookcases. Also shop manager Abigail Corcoran-Green and the wonderful shop volunteers who have all been working hard to get it ready. We hope you will come see us when we are back up and running."

Worthing mayor Henna Chowdhury made Superstar Arts one of her chosen charities for her year in office and thousands of pounds was raised by supporters for its flood appeal, to cover uninsured losses and repairs to the shop.

Jo said: “The support from the community has really lifted everyone's spirits and we are very grateful to everyone that has offered their help. We’re really feeling a huge amount of love from local supporters at the moment which is amazing, and we’re delighted to provide this service to those who need it.”