Tip Shop prepares for Christmas ‘madness’

The Tip Shop near Wellington's Southern Landfill. Photo / Supplied

Wellington Council’s Tip Shop is working to get “good quality items” to all Wellingtonians this Christmas.

Celebrating 25 years of operations this year, the store saved around 28 tonnes of goods intended for Wellington’s Southern Landfill, between Brooklyn and Ōwhiro Bay, this year.

Centre manager Shelali Shetty has been involved with the shop for almost seven years, and said over 200 cars usually come through the centre every weekend to drop off items at the shop’s recycling branch.

The team at Tip Shop. Photo / Supplied

Christmas is a busy period for the team, with customers clearing out their unwanted items and the growth in demand for goods.

“It’s madness during the Christmas period,” Shetty said.

“It’s just a perfect balance during Christmastime because people are clearing out things they’ve been holding on to for some time.”

She said Christmas is when the Tip Shop sees everything from kids’ toys and clothes to electrical items and whiteware.

“There’s an increase in people wanting to shop during Black Friday, so people bring in things that they don’t need anymore.”

After Christmas the mood seems to shift, with unopened Christmas presents making up a number of items on sale.

Shetty’s background in waste management and urban planning had driven her motivation to expand the capability of the Tip Shop.

Tip Shop centre manager Shelali Shetty. Photo / Supplied

“I used to feel that we are the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, but I feel right now I’m at a stage where I feel like spaces like the Tip Shop need to expand a bit more, because we need to have a market where people from all backgrounds have access to good-quality items.”

“We get such amazing things, unopened,” Shetty said.

Shetty said prices in-store range from 50 cents up to $400 or $500, with a separate team managing Tip Shop’s online Trade Me store.

Prices online vary from an average of $45 to their highest-priced item this year, which went for $4500.

She adds that Trade Me is the spot for more “quirky items”, with their top online seller being Bernina sewing machines.

“It could be [anything from] a beautiful violin to someone’s collection of Pokémon cards.”

Popular items in their physical store generally lean towards entertainment, Shetty said, including books and DVDs. However, big ticket items are also on offer.

“We have a range of laptops, amplifiers and music systems. We have different kinds of lamps and vintage furniture that gets dropped off to the shop.”

Shetty said the Tip Shop’s recent work with Wellington-based groups Sustainability Trust and Hopper Refillery helped educate customers on how to use their services. She said she looks forward to collaborating with other groups in Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

She said the key to their work is “to believe in the fact that second-hand is not second-best”.

“People from all walks of life and all social backgrounds need to have access to such beautiful things. And I guess that’s where I take a lot of pride in doing the job that I do.”