THE Mayor of Basingstoke officially unveiled a new-look St Michael’s Hospice store in Chineham.

Councillor Roger Gardiner, the Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, officially reopened the store at the Chineham Shopping Centre in Chineham on July 12 following a complete makeover.

The store, which closed on July 5 for seven days, has been completely refurbishment in a bid to make the shop more appealing to customers.

As part of the refurbishment project, new lights, carpets, shelves and visual merchandising stands were fitted.

A room at the back of the store, where volunteers sort through clothes, was also refurbished to allow donations to be processed more efficiently.

Annie Peters, head of retail at St Michael’s Hospice, told The Gazette: “It was a huge turnaround.

The shop has had a complete refurbishment to bring it into the 21st century. It is the oldest of our shops and it was due a makeover.

“It feels completely different.

We were very lucky and we were able to reuse carpet tiles left from other jobs and we tried to come in below a budget. We tried to reutilise some bits whilst making it look like a new shop.”