World’s first store selling ‘real’ products for refugees

Choose Love is the first of its kind, selling products, services or "bundles" for refugees across the globe

Spotted: What started out as a hashtag in 2015, #helprefugees, has now reached over one million displaced people, worked with 35,000 volunteers and currently supports over 120 projects across Europe, the Middle East and the US-Mexico border. One of the projects inspired by the campaign is the Choose Love store, where customers can buy real gifts for refugees.

Choose Love is the first of its kind, selling products, services or “bundles” for refugees across the globe. The store contains practical items like tents, nappies and sleeping bags, which the customer picks. Following this, a similar item is bought by the shop, for someone across the world who needs it. In addition to London, stores have appeared in New York and Los Angeles, serving roughly 45,000 customers since 2017.

Three new bundles featured this year in the London store include the “Bundle of Warmth”, which contains hot food, a child’s coat, firewood and a warm blanket; the “Bundle of Love” which offers a baby grow, child’s boots, nappies, basic wash bag, tent, tarp and pallet; and the “Bundle of Hope” which provides mental health support, adult learning and women’s support.

The original idea for the store came out of a creative collective called Glimpse, which formed in 2016.

“Many of us are from creative backgrounds and we wondered if we could use our existing skills to show a glimpse of something else, something better,” the group states on its website.