Anna Woolford did not know which way to turn. The queue in front of her counter was getting longer and longer, despite the steady pace at which she was taking in customers. It was the turn of a couple in their 50s to stand in front of the plump, jovial retiree. Visibly satisfied with their visit, they set down their finds in bulk: an Asian-style porcelain service, a Guns & Roses T-shirt, a mug in the colors of Manchester United, a stack of books in the language of Shakespeare and a pair of out-of-date binoculars. The man pulled out a €10 bill to pay for everything. "For the pastries, that's at the other checkout, isn't it?" asked a lady wearing a patchwork bucket hat.

In the line, a teenager was grumbling, frustrated at not being able to find the pair of Dr. Martens his parents enticed him with to follow them into the Hope association, a 1,000 square-meter former furniture store in the town of Ansac-sur-Vienne (population 800), 180 kilometers north of Bordeaux. On Tuesdays and Fridays, a diverse – but largely English-speaking – clientele flock to the charity shop opened in 2015 by Hope, founded in 2009 by four Englishwomen who made their home in the neighboring Deux-Sèvres department.

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