Are you ever troubled by the question of exactly where your charitable donations end up? Well, Choose Love – the first ever store that sells necessities for refugees around the world – could be just the site for you.


In 2015, a small but dynamic group of friends got together and set up a charity called Help Refugees. The organisation has since gone from strength to strength, supporting over 600,000 people across ten countries along the way.

Before Christmas, determined to alter our perception of Christmas shopping, they opened a pop-up shop in London. The store was named Choose Love – after the slogan that Katherine Hamnett created for the charity – and sold basic items that could make a difference to the life of a refugee.

At the time, Help Refugees’ CEO, Josie Naughton, said: “It’s easy to forget how lucky we are to have a bed, a blanket and a roof over our heads. For thousands of refugees this winter, these basic human needs are completely out of reach.

“This shop is all about one simple idea: that we should all choose love this Christmas and help those in need.”

The pop-up, which is in the heart of Soho, closes its worthy doors on January 31 but a simple, vibrant website, choose.love – lives on in its place.

Visit Choose Love and take your pick from a selection of items – priced from £5 to £500 – that address the most basic needs of the world’s refugees.


Your purchase (and any Gift Aid contribution) will be used to fund the purchase, transport and distribution of a similar item (blankets, socks, school bags, etc) or service (counselling, hospital costs and accommodation) at one of the 80 projects that Help Refugees operates in Bangladesh, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Serbia, Turkey and the UK.

Or you can go the whole hog and “buy the store”. The site offers the brilliant option to snap up everything in the shop, which includes a month’s rent and food for a family, tents, books, children’s clothes, etc, for a £499.

We can’t think of a better way to spend our Christmas money…

January 2018