Impact Housing has confirmed it is closing its recycling furniture service in Workington and Carlisle because it is not financially sustainable.
Impact Furniture Services collected unwanted furniture and white goods from customers’ properties free of charge.
Items were then sold to the public at outlets in Carlisle, Workington and Barrow.
Impact explored a number of different options but each showed that the service was not financially sustainable.
The Carlisle store is now closed but the Workington store has reopened until August for customers to purchase sale items reduced up to 50 per cent.
Furniture can be delivered to homes at half the usual cost.
Furniture collections from homes are no longer being accepted and goods cannot be donated to the stores.
The Barrow store has also reopened and customers will also be able to purchase sale items reduced up to 50 per cent.
Both stores will also be offering additional discounts to Impact and Riverside tenants, and will be able to offer additional emergency furniture packages for customers in need.
Andrea Thorn, managing director at Impact Housing, said: “It is with a heavy heart that we have taken this difficult decision.
“For many years the cost of running the initiative has been greater than the sales income generated, and a financial review last year showed that the service was running at a considerable loss.
“The effect of COVID-19 has further added to the losses that the organisation has had to cover.
“We looked at a number of different options and considered feedback from colleagues which included running the service from one store in Cumbria, moving to online sales purchases, a volunteer-based service delivery and by outsourcing all collections and deliveries, and none of the options demonstrated financial viability to enable a cost neutral business plan to be developed.
“We understand this is a difficult time for colleagues affected by the change, and we are in discussions and supporting them through the redundancy process.”
