A BOUTIQUE charity shop in Kilmacolm welcomed more than 60 customers through its doors on its first day of reopening.

The Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland store in St James Terrace is back in business on Friday after being closed for five months due to coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Store manager Kirsty Stronach, assistant manager Laura Brown and a team of 14 dedicated volunteers spent a couple of weeks preparing the store for reopening.

They were delighted to welcome so many customers into the boutique on their first day back.

Kirsty said: "We're so happy to be open again.

"We only opened in July 2019, so it's been a turbulent first year for us.

"Customers are really happy to see us open again.

"A lot of them seen us in the shop working and have been keeping an eye out for us opening again, which is really lovely.

"They're been desperate to come in and have a look about.

"Our reopening is great for the community."

During lockdown, the Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland community service team in Inverclyde has been supporting people with regular phone calls.

The team also set up a Facebook group to enable people to stay in touch and support each other.

In the two weeks before reopening, the team at the Kilmacolm store let customers know that donations would be accepted at set times.

In that short space of time, the store received more than 120 bags packed full of clothes, shoes and accessories.

To ensure safety guidelines are adhered to, one of the volunteers in the store now meets customers at the door to let them know about hand sanitising stations and social distancing floor stickers.

Kirsty puts the generous amount of donations down to people sorting out a lot of their belongings during lockdown and said that the volume collected demonstrates that the team couldn't do the great job they do without help from the residents.

She added: "It's a busy wee shop and is really well supported by the community.

"We have a great supply of dresses and shoes at the moment but we're on the lookout for more accessories and bric-a-brac.

"We couldn't do what we do without donations from the public."

Kirsty and the team are currently looking for volunteers.

To sign up email volunteering@chss.org.uk