New Upcycle shop near Countdown on Cameron Rd. Vicky (left) and Nikki get the store shipshape. Photo/John Borren
New Upcycle shop near Countdown on Cameron Rd. Vicky (left) and Nikki get the store shipshape. Photo/John Borren
Kiwis' love affair with things - especially clothes - that have a history is nowhere more evident than in the Bay of Plenty, Dawn Picken writes. Ten op shops surely indicates a lot of stuff that's dodged a trip to the landfill.
The newest addition to the Bay of Plenty's op shop collection opened this month.
Up Cycle, which supports Tauranga Women's Refuge, is at the corner of Cameron and Pooles roads in Greerton Village. Village manager David Hart says the new store brings the number of op-shops in Greerton to 10. He says, "We're considering our population [is] just under 4200, so we're probably the op shop capital of the country."
Need to replenish your elderly mum's set of sherry glasses? They are rare finds indeed at homeware stores but an op shop will have them. Ditto retro lampshades and fruit bowls. Photo/supplied
indulge visited six Greerton op shops in a 90-minute blitz: St John on Glen Lyon Ave; Centrepoint, SPCA and James' Place on Chadwick Rd; and the Red Cross and Waipuna Hospice shops on Cameron Rd. Among the items we found were a $10 stock pot, new $5 pillow cases, a $15 crystal bowl, $12 Pioneer speakers, a $40 portacot, $50 china set and a $70 wedding dress.
Hart says op shops service everyone from the lowest socio-economic group to the highest while suiting the Kiwi thrift ethic.
"We brag how little we paid for something, rather than how much something costs."
Charities rely on op shoppers. Waipuna Hospice CEO Richard Thurlow says the organisation's four shops at the Mount, Te Puke, Fraser Cove and Greerton netted $1.2 million last year, making up a quarter to a fifth of Waipuna's budget.
"They are very important for our fundraising. We've seen revenue grow," Thurlow says.
People are seeing there's some really good stuff and they want retro, second-hand and they feel they're doing good because things aren't going to the tip as often.
"It's turned into a hip and trendy thing to do the op shop circuit. People are seeing there's some really good stuff and they want retro, second-hand and they feel they're doing good because things aren't going to the tip as often."
Waipuna Cameron Rd shop manager Jan Asher says volunteers ring up a sale every two minutes. She says customers ride buses and minivans from Waikato, Rotorua and Auckland for local op shop tours.
"They say prices are better. They love us, and they like the atmosphere of the village."
Tauranga Women's Refuge Angie Warren Clarke with Up Cycle shop managers Nikki Bathe-Taylor and Vicki Wild who are all excited for the opening for the store. Photo/Ruth Keber
Shopper Lucy Mabon, from Welcome Bay, just bought shoes at Waipuna for her Polytech culinary arts class. "They look like brand new, and they're leather," she says.
A guide called Vintage Trail lists 33 locations which include for-profit second-hand outlets.
All sorts of things can be found at op shops, including this trinket cup from the Waipuna Hospice shop on Fraser St.
Thurlow says the shops' challenges are to keep a steady flow of high quality goods and hauling the junk dumped at their doors. He says Waipuna spends up to $30,000 a year disposing of unsaleable goods.
"We try to get as much out of it as we can. We break stuff down and take wood out, which can be used for firewood."
The Red Cross has three op shops in the Tauranga area and 50 stores in New Zealand.
National retail manager Patrick Cummings says the shops brought in $6 million last year, which made up 20 per cent of the Red Cross' budget. He says retailers selling low-priced new clothing, plus online sales, plus increased competition from the growing number of op shops makes for a tough sales environment.
It's a hard market to be in, but it's beneficial and will continue to be.
"Trade Me has had a tremendous effect on all retail - people are selling clothes rather than giving them away and we have to compete with that. A lot of stock in mainstream stores, the quality is such it only has one life. We're constantly on the lookout for donations of all shapes and sizes. It's a hard market to be in, but it's beneficial and will continue to be."
St John opened its first Tauranga op shop in December. Area committee chairman Jane Swainson says she's had no indication the region's op shop market is oversaturated.
A traditional tea pot can be one of many treasures found at an op shop.
"We did a feasibility study into that and the advice was positive. We think it's a good opportunity to interact within our community and be able to not only fundraise, but increase exposure and awareness of all our activities within our community." Swainson says money raised locally will support local programmes.
Tauranga Women's Refuge manager Angie Warren-Clark, who's opening Up Cycle, hopes to net the $10,000 extra her charity needs each month to service about a dozen local families.
"We think it's possible. All the op shops in our community are thriving because there's need. Hopefully, we're adding to the market and I think the market can definitely sustain that."
