We are really pleased to announce our Sailmakers shop will be reopening on Saturday 29 August.

We will be hosting a celebratory opening event to welcome back our customers. From 10am to 4pm our Sailmakers shop will be jam packed with vintage clothes, shoes and bags and other good quality preloved items ready to find their new homes.

We have been working hard to ensure that our customers and volunteers are kept safe while shopping, therefore we will be operating a ticketed appointment system to maintain low numbers within the shop and to ensure optimal social distancing.

Tickets to our opening event will cost £5 and will include a goody bag and £5 voucher to spend in store. The goody bags will feature a selection of treats that, along with the £5 voucher, could include handmade upcycled face coverings that have been made by our talented volunteers, note cards, hand sanitiser, a handmade cosmetic bag, a bottle of water and handmade earrings. The goody bag itself will be an upcycled tote bag made by our volunteers.

Tickets will be available for sale from our Sailmakers shop on Tuesday 18 August and online from Wednesday 19 August. Please check our social media channels for further details on how to purchase.

After our reopening event, Sailmakers will be open Wednesday to Saturday 10am to 4pm from Wednesday 3 September. The address is: Unit 18, Sailmakers Shopping Centre, Tavern Street, Ipswich, Suffollk, IP1 3BB.

Keeping everyone safe while shopping

To ensure the safety of our team and all visitors, we have carried out a risk assessment for reopening and put in place measures to minimise the risk of virus transmission.

Please avoid visiting our site if you or members of your household have been experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, or feel unwell in any way.

To ensure that physical distancing rules are maintained, our team will be ensuring only four ticketed people are allowed in the shop at any one time. If you are visiting with a child, please stick together and ensure that your child stays close at all times.

Everyone is required to sanitise their hands on entry using our new sanitiser stations. Please handle items as infrequently as possibly, especially those you do not intend to buy. Stick to the directional arrows around the store and ensure that you maintain at least a two metre distance from others at all times. When purchasing items, please pay by card and use contactless payments where possible.

For more information please read the guidance from the UK Government.

Donating items

We know that many people have been saving up items to donate to Emmaus Suffolk, therefore we are running specific donation days. We will accept donations on Mondays and Thursdays only at The Dales, 216 Dales Road, Ipswich, IP1 4JY. We have created a separate donation point at the rear of the building and this is accessible from the car park.

We are also holding donation days every 4th Saturday at our Felixstowe shop, bookable by appointment. The address of our Felixstowe shop is: 10-12 Great Eastern Square, Felixstowe IP11 7DY.

Please note we will not will not be accepting donations to our Sailmakers shop at this time.