Thanks for the invite to contribute to this blog. I manage the op shop at St Paul's Anglican Church in Station St, Fairfield - and through my life have also been a keen op shopper although managing one has taken some of the excitement out of going elsewhere - I have so much stuff on hand already whenever I want it!
I thought some of you would be interested to read a few things from the other side of the counter. Here's are my top few comments of the day on what it's like from the other side of the counter:
- I swear people cannot read! We have a sign out the front which says "Please do NOT leave donations here please bring them in when the shop is open". Still it would be a rare day when you don't get people leaving a box or two of donations.
- People in Fairfield are generous and have good stuff! We get so much stuff - and so much of it is really good quality stuff, so much so that we don't even put all the good stuff we get out!
- We live in such a consumerist society: we get reminded of it daily in the shop.
- Parties - we keep meaning to start a "party board" and putting up what party people are buying clothes/items for and then getting them to bring in a photo afterwards. It would be the rare week when we don't have several people in for clothes for a party or theme at school.
Those are my comments from the other side of the counter today. I'll write more over time, probably from both sides of the counter! And by the way - do check with me before visiting the shop if you come from a distance as our hours are a bit scatty at the moment!
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7 comments:
Oooh, I'm coming over to Fairfield as soon as I can arrange it!
Fairfield has three op shops (two almost side by side at the railway station end of Station Street and one tucked behind the shops near the Gillies Street carpark), so in one small shopping strip you can buy all your groceries and have a solid oppie fix.
Love the idea of a party board - I'm sure it would even be great inspiration for other shoppers when they are stumped for a costume. Great blog - awesome to have the perspective from the other side.
That is one of my favourite local op shops. I park in Gillies St, checkout the oppie there, walk throught o Bivianos for my fruit and veg and then sneak into your oppie and the MS one. I've found many a terrific bargain in Fairfield. And yes I do notice that the Church and the car park are particularly prone to donation dumpers. What is that about?
A question...are you uber horrendously short of volunteers atm? I've tried to visit three times this year, each time within advertised opening hours and you've been shut every time. This morning was the latest attempt. Or are you using a different door now that I hsven't worked out?
Yes it's a mixture of things - combination of staff/volunteers who haven't been well, to deciding to shut for the first half of January, to me deciding to not just fill in every time there is a gap, to our extra clothes not being collected when they have said they would and us needing to not open until they are ... thankfully life turns around a bit at the beginning of March and it will be much more reliable (we are trying to have signs up at least saying we are shut but that doesn't always get implemented - sorry). Yep this is the yucky bit of trying to manage the other side of the counter!
Argh! Sounds stressful.
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