Interstate update

I had business in Goulburn last week and took the train, which left me a couple of hours to check the Goulburn op shops (which hadn't been updated on our spreadsheet since at least 2011).

A couple have disappeared (Does Anglicare still have an op shop in Goulburn? I couldn't find it...)

And Vinnies have moved: they're now at 136 Auburn Street, conveniently just down from the Red Cross shop.

Dickson Vinnies is on the move

Spotted on Woolley Street, Dickson this morning:

Vinnies say there's no set opening date yet.

Watch this space!

Vinnies' Monster Warehouse Sale this weekend...

If you go, we'd love to see what bargains you found...

Renovation reveal

 Vinnies' Queanbeyan shop reopened this morning after its weekend renovation, and I Op was there to see what was new.

 We were given a tour of the changes by Queanbeyan Centre Manager Aaron McNeil, who had dressed up for the occasion, in a tail coat*.

Aaron's background as part of the Melbourne IKEA management team informed the redesign of the shop. 'Not only can we fit in 40% more stock than we used to be able to with the old design, which is great for our shoppers' he told us, 'but we now have the ability to rearrange the shop quickly to reflect stock levels and shopping trends'.

There are still a few finishing touches which need to be added, like signage and some displays, plus Aaron is hoping to have the shop repainted sometime soon.

But the shop is definitely lighter, brighter and easier to navigate.

 

Vinnies Queanbeyan is at 130 Monaro Street (free parking in the carpark behind) and is open Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm, and Saturday 9 am to 3 pm.

(*Not really, he tells us he has four of them that he wears regularly. Also, what is it with Vinnies Managers and amazing fashion sense?)

Vinnies Queanbeyan closed this weekend.

Vinnies’ Queanbeyan store will be closed for renovations from Saturday 24 to Monday 26 October. It will reopen, with a fresh new look, on Tuesday 27 October.

As a reopening special, they will be offering 50% off everything in store on Tuesday only.

Behind the Scenes at Vinnies

By Ms Frugal Ears: who writes about frugal and simple living, parenting and low-cost recipes. She is a compulsive op-shopper, even when trying to declutter and embrace mindful minimalism.

I love op-shopping. Okay, perhaps I am a bit obsessed. And I have always wondered how charity shops manage the sheer bulk of donations that come in. How do they stock a store so that everything is neat and ordered? How do they price items? So I was thrilled to participate in a behind-the-scenes tour of the Mitchell Distribution Centre of the St Vincent de Paul Society (Vinnies) along with fellow I Op Therefore I Am member The Shopping Sherpa.

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

Our tour guide was Gary Crowder, Area Manager for the Mitchell Distribution Centre and Dickson Centre; which encompasses the full time management of the warehouse. He didn't look like he worked in an op-shop. Well, I don’t know what I expected but I am used to being greeted by kind older ladies. 

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

Gary is ex-military, a snappy dresser and clearly good with logistics. When we saw the scale of the operation, we realized why his ex-military skills must come in handy.

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

Vinnies Mitchell handles three units: a retail shop, a sorting facility and a service unit. The Mitchell facility is responsible for sorting donations for five Canberra stores to include Mitchell. Belconnen and Tuggeranong stores do a certain amount of self-sorting, but none of the other stores have the facilities to process all donations themselves. Vinnies trucks visit the stores on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and service the general public on Tuesday and Thursdays.

First step on our tour was a walk through the retail shop. I found it hard to move through the retail shop without pausing to look at things. I wanted to try on the jewellery, flick through the women’s clothing rack, search for craft items and books and check out the children’s wear. Oh, that vintage fake-fur coat! That Tupperware butter dish! The children’s DVDs! This instinctive need to touch things and take them home only intensified when we visited the stock out the back. ‘Just pretend it is like a museum,’ whispered Anna-Maria. ‘No touching.’

You may not realise that there is a retail outlet in Mitchell. I didn't actually know there was one before our visit. It is hidden in a side street behind some adult establishments, one street back from the Salvos op shop. For several years it was not open to the public, operating only as a sorting facility and warehouse, but it re-opened for business a few years ago.

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

The sorting centre receives bags containing up to 15 kg in unsorted donations from its stores. These are stored at a shed on its premises until the bags are sorted (more on that to come). Vinnies Mitchell workers are able to sort between 100 and 120 bags per day. They also receive other donations from drop-off bins and centres, including at the Mitchell centre itself.

Wearing gloves (cloth or vinyl gloves – not latex as some people have allergies), workers open up a bag and then sort into three piles: A-grade (shop stock), B-grade and items unusable (rubbish). Vinnies has a ‘ban list’ of products that it is prohibited from selling, or that it is unable to sell (e.g. it does not sell electronic items). Most items are good quality, but some bags contain soiled or dangerous items. Vinnies policy is that if the bag smells funny or does not look safe, dispose of it. Safety of worker is paramount.

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

A-grade items are placed in either a blue or a white laundry basket, depending on whether the items are suitable for winter or summer clothing. When they are full, the A-grade baskets are then taken to another section of the sorting area, where they are sorted into labelled boxes.

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

I was amazed at the effort Vinnies put into packaging items according to category, for example men’s ties, women’s belts, women’s vests, women’s dresses, children’s toys and so on. This system means that it is easy for shops to place an order when they are low on a certain type of item: for example they can request more women’s summer t-shirts and a box is easily located and sent to them.

B-grade items include clothing that is faded or needs minor repairs, or other items in less than top condition. These items are on-sold in bulk bales to textile companies.

What does Vinnies Mitchell receive the most of in donations? A large proportion of items—up to 85%—consist of women’s clothes. It receives much less menswear and there is always a demand for good quality men’s clothing. “Men in Canberra tend to wear tailored suits, and then wear them until they are nearly worn out,” explained Gary. “We get a lot of suit jackets that we can sell, but there are not nearly as many pants. And there is not much in the way of casual wear, either.”

We ventured through another ‘do not enter’ door into the inner sanctum of the sorting facility. Here there were tall pallet racks filled with large sacks of unsorted items, piles of books, tins of jewellery, and odds and ends.

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

 All items sold have to comply with Australian legislation. For example, if an items is faulty then a customer can return it and request a refund. And DVDs can only be sold with the correct Australian classification. Many of the classifications have changed—for example there is now a MA15+ category—so Vinnes has a volunteer who comes in during the week to search the DVD titles online and label them with new classification stickers.

Photo by Ms Frugal Ears

I noticed a pile of crutches and walkers stored on the mezzanine level of the warehouse. Gary explained that they provide these items to customers if they ask; they do not display them as they find that some people purchase and then resell for profit.

We thought we’d seen everything, but there was more. Gary took us out the back and into a large shed, where sacks of unsorted material received from Vinnies stores were kept. The shed houses anywhere between 2,500 and 3,000 unsorted bags at any time. “My aim is to ensure we have at least one and a half months worth of goods to stock Vinnies stores in storage, in case donations dry up for any reason” said Gary. The forklift drivers had a system for sorting the goods so that they are stored chronologically.

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

And finally, there was a warehouse across the road. The warehouse held boxes of goods that had been labelled and packaged in the sorting centre. 

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

Beside the roller door was an order that had already been prepared for the Vinnies Phillip store. Once a store orders what it needs, warehouse workers locate the relevant boxes in the warehouse and then make a stack of them, ready to load onto the truck and transport.

Photo by Ms Frugal Ears

The warehouse also contained some furniture. We admired a funky green-and-black-striped retro sofa, and a brown hipster-style sofa. 

Photo by Ms Frugal Ears

But this furniture was not destined for Vinnies stores. “Around 80% of our furniture goes to people in need,” said Gary. “Homelessness is a real problem in Canberra. And since most of the people we gift furniture to live in small apartments, it’s a challenge to find items that are small enough to fit.” Vinnies buys new foam mattresses to go with the beds it gives these people, to ensure that the bedding is hygienic and safe.

Photo by Ms Frugal Ears

The thing that impressed me the most about Vinnies Mitchell Distribution Centre was the commitment to quality. Items were treated respectfully, and a lot of care went into the sorting process. Gary emphasised that Vinnies always welcomed quality donations; and an issue for them was the cost of dealing with poor quality or damaged items. He tactfully avoided discussing the direct cost to Vinnies of dealing with rubbish that had been dumped, but from his anecdotes that was clearly a problem especially with some of the bins near suburban retail stores. Vinnies Mitchell has a massive skip bin out the back, which it used for the large volume of damaged goods or items it was unable to sell that it received.

Photo by The Shopping Sherpa

As to how volunteers price items, Gary admitted it was a bit random. It is difficult for the volunteers to know what the items they are pricing sold for new in the shops. That said, Vinnies had some basic guidelines based on the type of item they are pricing.

And if you think that staff and volunteers out the back get the first pick of the best stuff at bargain prices, think again. Vinnies has strict policies to ensure that managers monitor and approve purchases by staff, and that the items are being sold to them at the same price they would be sold to the general public. And Gary said that Vinnies workers were buying what you or I would buy – mid-range clothing mainly. There are still plenty of bargains to be enjoyed by everyone.

Speaking of bargains, Vinnies Mitchell will be holding its annual Monster Warehouse Sale from 6 to 8 November.

Vinnies Mitchell is located at 10 Buckland Street in Mitchell, and is open Monday to Friday 9 am to 4 pm and Saturday 10 am to 3 pm.

Saturday Finds

Some Saturday morning finds...

From the monthly Charity Garage Sale in Wanniassa, a selection of plays for $1 each and a Nymolle vase for $3.

And from St Vinnies in Tuggeranong, a selection of glass, prices ranging from 50 cents to $1 for each piece.

Total outfit for $11? ...only from an op shop!

(Reposted from Fotofraulein...)

Sometimes I find gold and on my last day before heading back to work, I scored gold. I headed out to Salvo's in Fyshwick as I hadn't been to the southside of town for a while and in particular to Fyshwick.

Being a weekday it was quiet and there wasn't a queue for the change room. I'm on the hunt for a crop demin jacket. Do you think I found one? No, but of course I couldn't leave empty handed. On the half price rack was a linen Marks and Spencer skirt for $3. I love the black with the cream and peachy colour block hem.

Not one to usually look at the shoes today I did. And thank the op shopping stars I did! Funkis clogs $5, in size 41? Yes please! And they look brand new!

The thought of ironing work clothes does not thrill me, so during my first week back at work I headed into Vinnies Mitchell, picking up a cute, cool, non iron Liz Jordan top for $3. And to finish off my bargain $11 outfit, a handmade necklace, made by my darling friend Libby.

Liz Jordan top - $3 (Vinnies Mitchell)

Marks and Spencer skirt - $3 (Salvo's Fyshwick)

Funkis clogs - $5 (Salvo's Fyshwick)

Total spent: $11

Thursday Thrifting Finds: Vinnies Woden

(Reposted from Fotofraulein)

A few weeks ago I headed to the south side of Canberra. I checked out the Salvo’s and Vinnies in Woden, but only came away with goodies from Vinnies. 

The score of the day had to be this Heartbreaker dress for $12. It's got a tie around the waist which I had thought of cutting off and replacing with a proper belt. What do you think? Keep it? Or lose it?

In case I decide to cut it off, I also bought a nice white wide belt for $5.

Still not sure if I prefer the tie or belt.

Maggie T jeans for $3.50 (all orange tags were half price, I would’ve paid $7 regardless). They fit well and are a great length. Total bargain!

I am not much of a glitzy girl, but for some reason I kept coming back to this shiny red bag. Perhaps it was my inner magpie coming out. I decided to part with my $7. I used it at my work Christmas party, much better than a Santa t-shirt or jingle bell earrings!

 

And lastly, for $3, an SBS documentary on Australian fashion designers. Something I will watch, get some inspiration, great ideas and thoughts on fashion, then, like a good book, forward onto a friend. Here is an excerpt from the section on Willow.

Heartbreaker Dress - $12

Maggie T Jeans - $3.50

White Belt - $5

Red Glittery Bag - $7

DVD - $3

Total amount spent: $30.50

Vinnies Mitchell Monster Sale

(Reposted from FotoFraulein)

I have a bit of an op shop addiction. But I like to think I have it somewhat under control. Somewhat, but not totally. Where does this obsession come from? Thrill of the chase? The hunt for a bargain? Being a poor university student for so long, which has seeped into adult life? For me, I see it as all of the above, plus I am giving to charity, rather than large multinational corporations. So, as I love op shopping and thrift stores so much, I'm going to do posts on my blog on Thursdays of my thrifting finds and anything ACT related I will repost on I Op Therefore I Am - ACT.

Towards the end of November 2013, the St Vincent de Paul in Mitchell had their monster sale. It started on a Friday, one of the great things about working in Mitchell, a visit fitted perfectly in my lunch break! 

The Vinnies warehouse, where the magic happens twice a year!

I spent $16 and what did I get?

Grace Hill Dress - $6

Capture Black Bolero Jacket - $3

The fabric in this dress has a real 1950s feel, with a satin waistband and neckline. I love pink and gray together and thought it would be great for Summer Christmas parties.

For work, I got this Suzanne Grae short sleeve top for $3. I loved the pattern and I find these tops a great alternative to t-shirts.

Both of the tops I bought have the art deco style sunrise motif. I do love art deco and when it's on fabric,  even better! Also for work and a casual Summer look, I picked up an Epilogue long sleeve top for $4. It is slightly hi-lo at the back, made of light weight polyester, quick drying, no ironing. I wear a lot of white, black and gray, so it goes with many things in my wardrobe.

So all up, a sensible shop, with quite a few good purchases. Have you been op shopping of late? What bargains have you picked up?