shoe sale at hawthorn road

Sam mentioned a while back that the Op Shop on Hawthorn Road, North Caulfield as a good selection of Nine West shoes.

I visited last week and picked up a lovely pair of black peep toe sling backs for $10.00.

I noticed a sign saying that new shoes had just arrived. As this was the first time I have visited this shop (but not the last!) I am not sure if this sign is a permanent fixture. Either way, there were heaps of shoes in stock.

I fell in love with this bag at Southern Op Shop Mentone earlier today. My photography skills don't do justice to the intricate beading pattern. Much of the silver has worn off the clasp and chain and the silk lining is a bit stained, but I think its just gorgeous.

West North West

I visited the Brotherhood of St Laurence shop in West Footscray on Tuesday. This is about to become a Brotherhood Clearance Centre and will be opening on Sundays.

There were no craft supplies and not many clothes but there were three huge tables full of jeans and they are all only $4 a pair. I bought 2 pairs for myself.

They also have the largest selection of books that I've ever seen in an Op Shop - fiction, non-fiction, novels, cookbooks, reference books, kids books etc. All books are only $1 each and the lady at the counter told me that they are expecting another delivery of books very soon. I picked up a few books below.

On Wednesday I visited the Salvos in Deer Park. I bought this lovely skirt below that doesn't fit me but I'm planning to make it into a handbag.

Then I discovered that there were lots of clothes where the Suzanne Grae label had been removed. I asked at the counter and the lady told me that they are all new and have been donated by Suzanne Grae.

It looks like each item has a small fault but I bought the following:

Brown three quarter sleeve top (just has some loose stitching at the top).

This red top that is missing a button.

This purple dress that just has a broken zip

....and a huge bag of buttons!

Vinnies Ascot Vale

I had to go to Essendon yesterday so I dropped into Vinnies in Ascot Vale.
I found 2 lovely vintage floral sheets (there were several more but I'm seriously running out of storage space)........

.......and this circus themed sheet and some blue material. I'm not sure what type of material but it's sort of like a heavy suiting type of material. I'm going to use it in a little boys quilt.

They had a great collection of teapots and milk jugs. They also had quite a bit of china (some vintage royal doulton). There was a really beautiful butter dish but it was $65 which is way out of my price range.

This shop didn't have many clothes, but did have lots of other stuff - there was a large kids books section and a huge container of kids clothes where everything was $1.

Happy Easter!

New to blog and area...

I am moving to Melbourne on the 25th from the US. I have been thrifting(that's what we call it) here in the States for years and I am very excited about exploring Melbourne for what treasures it has to offer. I have been very inspired by the posts I've read and the photos I've seen. One request, if I may, we aren't able to bring many of our children's toys with us so if anyone comes across an op shop with any decent toys, or other baby paraphenalia, would you mind mentioning it? Perhaps the one where the, how did you call it?, the boob trumpet was purchased? Thanks.

Tristie

My trips to the op shop have been severely curtailed by work. However necessity prevailed. Above is a retro knitting book I picked up circa??? any ideas?? Also picked up these handy little embroidery books with great clear diagrams.
Op shops are great places to put together an outfit for a themed party. A $3 netball skirt, much shortened and a chesty bond with the c made from the skirt offcuts was an easy solution for daughter's costume for an 18th.

A Good Week

Its been a very successful op shopping week for me. I found these fantastic Witchery shoes on Tuesday. I'm so excited about them that I've blogged about them here as well. Apparently they had only come into the shop (Salvos in Florence Street, Mentone) about an hour before.

Wednesday's big find was a stash of embroidered and lace doilies from Temcare in Portman Street Oakleigh. Again, they had only just come in (seems lots of people cleaned out their cupboards over the weekend). I bought about eight of them and as of Wednesday there were still about 15 in the shop.

Last find, and I think my favourite of the week, is a silk scarf by Liberty of London. I adore scarves (must be square and silk). This was $1.50 at Southern Op Shop, Mentone. Here's more thrifted scarves:

a growing addiction

remember how I mentioned the nine west shoes at that little op shop on Hawthorn rd at Caulfield? well, it beckoned to me again.

I might have to start taking a different way home from the gym!

Working Out the Pricing System at Salvation Army Op Shops

I thought it may be worth explaining the pricing system at Salvos stores, as it is actually kind of complicated and something you can work to your advantage, if you’re so inclined.

You may have noticed that Salvos uses price tags of several different colours (blue, yellow, purple and something else, I think). This system isn’t arbitrary, or a way of sorting the quality or type of the merchandise. It actually functions as a measure of how long certain items have been in the shop.

This is where another of the Salvos op shop conventions comes in – the ‘all blue/yellow etc tickets half price’ signs. At any time, all items with a certain colour tag are half price. What happens is that all new items which go onto the shop floor over a seven day period have the same colour tag. After three weeks have passed, any items still in the shop with that colour are half price for a week. Then those items that still haven’t sold are moved to a different Salvos store, where there’ll be a better chance of them being sold.

After the half price week, that colour is used for the newest items again.

Clever, huh?

So essentially, if you like something but can’t afford it/think it’s overpriced, check its tag and then figure out if it is currently half price/soon will be half price. Or you could wait it out for a number of weeks, if you have the requisite Nerves of Steel.

Usually I wouldn’t sweat it if an item is in your usual op-shop under $10 category. But sometimes the Salvos (espesh in country areas) do get wonderful old clothes, accessories and homewares, and charge accordingly. If you can pick up one of these items after it’s been sitting around for a while, you get a bargain, and the shop gets to shift some old stock that they would otherwise be moving off to another store.

Why all prices at the Salvos end in 75c is still a mystery to me, however. I’ll have to get on to that one.

Do you know of a Salvos that doesn’t participate in this scheme? Are there any finer points you can add to it, or why everything has to be $x.75? Any and all insights on this or other price systems are most welcome.

(This is also posted at thevintagedetective.wordpress.com - ps, I found this info out from a helpful vollie at Kyneton Salvos who explained the whole system to me unprompted - another reason to check out the ops there!)

Bargain jeans

I found a new pair of jeans perfect fit on a 5 for $1 rack and a vintage dress for $8. The vintage dress is very similar to those sold by Sportsgirl for $150.
Unfortunately I have to admit that I did purchase these items on an op shop tour of Adelaide as part of the Adelaide Fringe. So sorry girls its a little far for you all to drive. However, I assure you there will be a similar op shop tour of Melbourne running in the 2008 Melbourne Fringe.

Address for Kids market

Kids Market:
Fairfield SPACE (St Paul's) Op Shop
88a Station St,
Fairfield

Give me a call with any question - Barb 0419 134429

Kids market

We are having a kids market at the St Paul's Op Shop in Fairfield on Monday 10th March (long weekend) - 2pm - 5.30pm.

Everything is going to be 50c and there are some good bargains in it as we sorted through it yesterday. We are about halfway through sorting for it - lots of baby stuff, a fair bit of toddler/preschool clothes, some school aged clothing, a stack of toys/puzzles/soft toys, some kids books.

Love to see you there - let me know that you heard through the blog - love to meet you :)

change in salvation army opening hours

I'm not sure what this means for stores like St Kilda and Abbotsford which have until now been open a bit later on a Friday evening. If you find out, please let me know!