New look for St Luke’s Charity Shops

Leading local charity, St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth, has a new look for their charity shop portfolio thanks to local sign makers Signs Express (Plymouth). St Luke's who, in the last 12 months, cared for over 3,531 people in the local community with a life-limiting illness, were in need of a local sign maker to help them with their newest re-brand. The task was part of a bigger project to roll out a re-brand of all 30 shops located across Devon and Cornwall.

The shops currently generate £1m profit of the £10m it costs to run the charity throughout the year. It is these donations and purchases that enable St Luke’s to keep on providing this vital care for free at home, in hospital and at their specialist unit in Turnchapel.

St Luke’s current shop signage had been in place for many years, had no uniformity and was becoming to look tired and out of date in keeping with the modern high street. The re-brand gave the charity an opportunity to address the uniformity, add a new contemporary look and incorporate each shop into local community it serves.

When deciding who was going to complete the re-brand, Head of Communications and Marketing, Rob Maltby commented ‘’We have been a client of Sign Express (Plymouth) for 5 years. Each project they have worked on has had exceptional quality and we can really push the creative and material boundaries with them. When deciding on who to do this vast re-brand, we knew we could trust Signs Express as they have taken the time to understand our values, what our brand stands for and the sensitive areas and challenges a medical environment may present to their fitters’’.
The project took is almost complete and has taken just over 2 months, with installation of the initial 14 shops taking 2 weeks. Signs Express Plymouth worked closely with the St Luke’s designer to help come up with a fresh and clean logo whilst also ensuring the materials used were to suit their budget which in turn was integral with the branding.

The signage consisted of a combination of aluminium composite tray signs with digitally printed graphics and aluminium composite flat panels depending on the shop front installed. Rob continued “On a selection of some of our new shops, Signs Express have also assisted with delivering internal branding, from a very distinctive till feature wall using stand-off acrylic, to incorporating our care messages to highlight to the customer the link between their purchase and the difference it has made to our care. The guys really delivered on this project’’.

Signs Express Plymouth have over 20 years’ experience within the sign making industry and always stays in touch with their local community. They have completed multiple projects with St Luke’s Hospice from providing creative signage for a children’s playroom and outdoor trail to support children facing the loss of a parent to creating a large chalkboard display on a shop window to encourage supporters to write messages in support for national Hospice Care Week. Chris Reilly MD of Signs Express (Plymouth) shows how important local community is to him by stating ‘’St Luke’s is a fantastic charity and we are proud to be able to support them. We understand as a charity, our signage solutions must be cost effective to ensure every available penny is spent on patient care. We also like to do our bit to support them through charitable fundraising events, these have included sailing and cycling challenges. It is good to feel part of the local community and helping towards such a worthwhile cause’’.