The garage sale involves neighbours from over 25 homes each selling a treasure trove of items from their garages.
Looking for a great pre-Christmas bargain? If so, residents in a couple of Tauranga streets might have just what you’re after.
More than 25 Tauranga neighbours and their children have banded together for a monster garage sale to sell hundreds of household goods, toys, jewellery and a ute in the lead-up to Christmas.
Bargain hunters will be spoiled for choice with a treasure trove of items up for grabs at the third annual Butterworth Crescent & Coutts Street Garage Sale Extravaganza in Pāpāmoa on Saturday.
Butterworth Cres residents Ben and Stephanie Brock have organised the mega garage sale since it first started after they pitched the idea to their neighbours.
“My wife is from Canada and this is how garage sales are run there. It was Stephanie’s idea to have a giant community garage sale in our cul-de-sac, and it proved so successful in 2021 and it’s been an annual event ever since, “ Ben Brock said.
Brock said each household was responsible for selling their goods and there was sure to be something for everyone and “loads of bargains”.
Especially for those yet to complete their Christmas shopping, he said.
Brock said there were about 50 homes in this cul-de-sac and 25-plus households involved in the giant sale would be selling “all manner of things” - and during the sale bargain hunters would not go hungry as they were holding a sausage sizzle.
Items up for grabs included jewellery, adult and children’s clothing, a baby changing table, household items, furniture, toys, games, plenty of “Christmas stuff” and a neighbour around the corner was selling a ute, he said.
Butterworth Crescent & Coutts Street Garage Sale Extravaganza organisers Stephanie and Ben Brock with their 4-year-old daughter Lila. Photo/ Ben Brock
Brock said among the items he and his wife would be selling were a dehumidifier, some of their four-year-old daughter Lila’s clothes, a dehumidifier and Christmas items, including decorations.
“Our community garage sale is like a super mini-market,” he told the Bay of Plenty Times.
He said lots of the neighbourhood’s children would also be selling items that included their own baked cupcakes and next-door neighbour Joel Spillane-Ryan, 12, would be manning the family’s candy floss-making machine.
Brock said the past two years the mega sale had been held in January, and last year “hundreds and hundreds” of bargain hunters packed into the cul-de-sac.
“Everyone in our little cul-de-sac is excited and once again pulling together to make this year’s sale an even bigger success. There is always a great community atmosphere because of the huge community response.
“It makes for an amazing event that helps to bring our little neighbourhood closer together.”
Butterworth Cres resident Carlie Crone, who works at Bay of Plenty Times publisher NZME, said she and her husband “loved living” in this neighbourhood.
“This event creates a super positive family-friendly Christmas vibe. And those who attend will find there is something for everyone and bargains to be had,” she said.
Crone said while she and her husband were not participating in the garage sale this year, they donated items to their neighbours to sell.
“This is a great neighbourhood where everyone is very friendly and looks out for each other. It’s a lovely child-friendly place to live.”
Crone said she encouraged people to pop along to the sale not only to snap up a few bargains but to share in the positive vibe and hopefully make new friends.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.
