Case Study – Re-Store

A Collective Approach

The Connecting Communities Collective is a group of local charities and organisations working together to make the most of resources and to support people in Oban. As they put it, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” A group from Helensburgh & Lomond went to see community wealth building in action.

The group exploring community wealth building visited Oban to meet the staff and volunteers running the Connecting Communities Collective a partnership between: Hope Kitchen, Atlantis Leisure, Oban & Lorn Health Options, ALIenergy, and the Oban Youth Café.

The visiting group wanted to hear directly from those involved – how the Collective came about, how it runs, and what lessons could be learned.

Catriona Petit, Service Manager of Hope Kitchen, the lead agency within the Collective, spoke about how it started:

“There were already great groups doing good work, but we realised we could achieve more together than apart. It’s not about one big organisation taking over—it’s about each group bringing something to the table and making the whole thing stronger.”

The visiting group also spent time at Re_Store, the Collective’s charity shop. It’s much more than just another high street charity shop – it’s a way to support the community and to give back.

Louise Murphy, Manager of Re_Store said:

“Over the year, we’ve sold approximately 67,000 items of clothing. That’s almost 7,000 tons saved from going to landfill. It takes a lot of water to make fabric and we’ve saved the equivalent to four and a half Olympic swimming pools of water. And it’s the CO2 equivalent of driving 11 times around the world.”

Volunteers spoke about how the shop helps support the Collective’s work and runs workshops on repairing, upcycling, and reducing waste, including food waste.

All that remains now is to see how this Collective ethos and vision could work for Helensburgh and Lomond…to keep more of our collective wealth within our area.