Op shops get hip to the value of vintage on Home Services

Jan

Op shops get hip to the value of vintage

posted by admin in Window Cleaning

Now that fossicking at the goodwill shop is not only fun but green, op shops have never been so cool. But while real scoops may still surface from bags bundled up when older people move into rest homes - one of the prime sources of donations for many charities - its not quite so easy for customers to score treasures now that savvy managers are maximising their profits through regular heritage sales and even, heaven forbid, on Trade Me.
For churches and charities, shops provide financial support for activities as diverse as addiction services, disability support and art therapy for grieving children. So making the most of donated goods is vital.
Some smaller outlets routinely run good stuff by their nearest antique shop to set a fair price; others cull their crop, saving the best for annual fairs that bring in buyers with an interest in specialist areas.
Wesley Methodists annual March sale of vintage clothes, china, glass and silver this year in Palmerston North raised about $30,000. The citys Hospice Shop recently held back heritage items over several months as a trial - and sold them in a week to realise about $6000.
There is always a tension between setting prices at op shop levels and what is reasonable, says Diane Holmes, who manages Napiers Cathedral Op Shop. She says her older volunteers find it hard to take a more mercenary attitude, but %26quot;were not at the back of the church anymore%26quot;.
Wellingtons Mary Potter Hospice acting chief executive and business manager Adrian van Dyk says their shops generally contribute just under a third of the hospices total annual funding requirement of about $1 million.
With just one fulltime and six part-time employees, they rely on about 100 volunteers to run five stores between Newtown and Paraparaumu.
The hospice often benefits from considerable donations of household effects from families of people who have died - and the shops are a valuable link to the community, assisting with the movements profile.
Lower Hutts Te Omanga Hospice lifted its game a while ago by raising the standard of goods accepted, says manager Carmen Haskell, who gets %26quot;pretty close to%26quot; her annual target of $250,000.
She was surprised that when they started keeping better-quality goods for the shop, the standard of contributions went up also. As the only paid member of a staff of 40, she prices most of the clothing and the good china - some of which is taken by a nearby dealer who helps with pricing the good stuff.
But she notes things that feature on Trade Me dont necessarily sell well in the shop - Temuka china, for example.
By all accounts, op shops are benefiting from Trade Me, rather than losing out.
Though customers may not get the bargains they once did, charities can get a price that reflects the market, says Johnsonville Family Store manager Vicki Wilson, who has long been interested in antiques.
Wilson, who has run the Johnsonville Rd shop since setting it up nine years ago, is hoping to set up a shop account to sell higherend collectible items on Trade Me, rather than selling through others and losing commission. If the buying public thinks thats wrong, they can go on the Net and bid, she says.
%26quot;At the end of the day were here to get the best income for our [Salvation Army] corps, so they can put the money back into the community.%26quot;
Dressing in recycled garments is part of a tradition going back to 18th-century Britain, says Wellington writer Bronwyn Labrum, author of a chapter on hand-me-downs in a new book on the history of clothingin New Zealand, Looking Flash.
But while churches of every denomination have been running second-hand clothing shops here for well over a century, she notes money only changed hands for the first time in 1927, when the Auckland City Mission decided to charge a nominal sum for what they had previously given away.
The Salvation Army, which runs 13 Family Stores throughout the region, sticks most closely to that pioneering attitude of sharing with the needy. Several Family Store managers told us that giving when and where its needed is as important to them as sending money on to support the churchs activities and programmes. Theyll give clothing and furniture wherever they perceive a need, or just sit and listen to customers regardless of whether theyre buying anything.
It was the end of an era when Presbyterian Support closed its oneand only Wellington-area opportunity shop because they couldnt find new premises after the demolition of their building.
Maintaining the op shop can be a challenge when theres no budget for decorating. Colin Henderson has been manager for nine years at the Miramar store %26ndash; which topped the Salvation Armys shops nationally (in terms of per capita turnover) in 2005. Hes proud of his team of 12 part-timers, and the way they keep the store looking (and smelling) good.
Clothing is the bread and butter of most op shops. In Miramar its their best seller. %26quot;We have a well-off population,%26quot; says Mr Henderson.%26quot;The quality of clothing we receive here is quite remarkable.%26quot;
The Sallies insist on paying their mostly part-time workers but some shops have no paid employees. Volunteers are the life blood of op shops %26ndash; all could do with more workers. They wash and iron clothing, make minor repairs and cut up leftover cloth to sell as clean rags.
They remember regular customers and what they look for, be it fabric for quiltmaking or favourite china patterns.
And they have a real pride in how their shops look %26ndash; DanielaStamenkovic of the small Petone Family Store has a reputation in Jackson Street for her colour-coordinated windows, as does artist Mary Ditchburn at the Napier Cathedral shop.
As well as customers in genuine need of clothing, furniture and household goods, op shops are a favourite haunt of artists, particularly those working in textiles and found objects.
Wellington quilter Esther Woollaston is known for her pale works using faded linens, cottons and mens shirting garnered from op shops.
Upper Hutt textile artist Katherine Morrison creates new art from old blankets and is working on an exhibition incorporating baby clothes found at Upper Hutts Save Mart, one of a chain that gives a portionof income from donated clothing to charities.
Creative Petone mum Ange Holtslag makes bags and kids clothes from yardage found at shops such as Jackson Sts St Vincent de Paul, one of six run by the Catholic order in the Wellington region. She and daughter Lucy, 3, are regulars at St Vinnies, where a good haul includes old books %26ndash; such as girls annuals from the 1950s %26ndash; games for Lucy and %26quot;stuff for the house%26quot;, which is entirely built up of op shop finds.