The British Heart Foundation has today opened its 700th store and says that as it continues to expand its retail network across the country, its main concern is “keeping up with demand”.

The BHF is today opening a landmark 700th charity retail outlet, officially making it the largest charity retail operator by shop numbers in the UK. The Charity Shops Survey 2011, produced by Charity Finance in October, showed that the heart charity had already far surpassed its next closest rival, Oxfam, for highest turnover, at just over £133m per year compared with Oxfam’s £87.9m.

With the opening of its newest store in Woolwich, the BHF also revealed it had increased year-on-year profits for its retail operations by nearly a fifth (18 per cent), to £26m. According to the Charity Shops Survey, however, (which preceded the release of these results by BHF), Oxfam still has greater profits, at £26.9m.

The charity said that the growth of its charity shops is a result of recession-hit shoppers looking for more affordable items.

Mike Lucas, head of retail at BHF, said: “The recession has seen our sales grow, giving us the confidence to further extend our nationwide network of BHF shops and furniture and electrical stores.

“Today our main concern is keeping up with demand. The supply of stock is slowing, partly because consumers aren’t updating their homes and wardrobes at the same rate and therefore donating fewer second-hand items.”

In the summer of this year BHF had launched a public PR campaign for stock donations, highlighting a survey it had commissioned showing that the public was largely unaware that some charity bag collections do not go straight to charity’s retail networks, but are instead sold on the international market by commercial operators giving charities a share of the profits.

The latest addition to the BHF retail network in Woolwich brings the total number of furniture and electrical stores run by the BHF to 133.