A case (or two) of mxing things up

Friend Tania and I planned to go to Jamison Trash and Treasure yesterday morning to find something for the part of my Design class brief which said "Select and evaluate two disparate 3D objects - one natural and one manufactured that have had a life or been functional and have now ceased to function or been discarded".

Except I'd managed to snaffle a dead printer from Craft ACT on Saturday night so the need wasn't quite so pressing. We went anyway, even though there were intermittent showers on the way there.

The showers had obviously kept most of the stall holders (and shoppers) away. Which meant some hard haggling was easy peasy.

The first purchase of the day? These two school cases ($15 for both) to add to the (now much taller) pile of suitcases I keep my wool stash in. Except once I pulled the stickers off them I discovered this on the top:Some googling brought up the fact that the ACT Schools Authority was in existence from 1976 to 1988 so I think I'll be offering them to the ACT Heritage Library before filling them with wool...

And I snapped up this vintage Sunbeam Mixmaster for $30:I did intend to pull it apart for my project. For about one nano second. But it seems a shame to kill it when I've been told it's in working order (although am a little worried about testing this pronouncement out in case I explode into a puff of electrical smoke when I plug it in...)

Salvos Fyshwick Bargain Basement

The Bargain Basement at Salvos Fyshwick has altered its opening hours.

The Basement is now open 9am-4pm, Monday to Friday - no weekend hours.

R is for Reborn

The second hand shop at Mitchell Waste Transfer Station reopened this week.

Theiss is now operating the junk shop itself. It is called the R Shop.

The Old Flame and I popped in this morning for a shufty.

Stock is still being built up and it is obvious that they have selected the better offerings for the re-opening. Prices are little high, but that may change. And there are still bargains to be had.

We picked up a Remington Hair Clipper Kit, complete and manufactured in June 2008 for $5. The assistant chucked in the 4 Tupperware picnic plates marked at 50c each for nothing and was happy to chat about the new set up.

We were happy to note that some of the smaller electrical equipment has been safety checked (the hairclippers, for example, only the day before our visit).

All the usual types of stock were represented. Furniture, books, bric-a-brac, sporting and gardening equipment were all there. The Old Flame stalked a hapless customer in the hope of hijacking an enviable camping stove. I'm instructed that it was a Coleman 3-burner petrol camp stove which retails for about $250 marked at $15. TOF was consoled in his loss only by the free Tupperware.

Notably absent were textiles - no clothes, linens, fabrics etc. I saw a solitary pair of women's shoes, but no accessories. There is also no "better bits" section. All stock is priced.

Look forward to your experiences at the new shop.

Why you should think before you press “post”

There is an interesting flame war happening on the Riot-ACT regarding the Salvos Store at Mitchell.

It does raise some interesting points about op-shops running on a commercial basis, and charging a standard price across a region, but hey, they have to pay rent and some staff salaries. Also in a City a mobile as Canberra it is not uncommon for dedicated op-shoppers to visit the op-shops on the other side of town (lord knows, I have done this often enough). If I felt a particular op-shop was cheaper then all the rest, I would make a point of visiting more often.

Anyway for little bit of light reading, check it out

http://the-riotact.com/?p=13462

Belco round-up

The YMCA at Belconnen has half price on everything in store, so if you're after an orange and brown Monier crockpot with the original recipe book, it's yours for $5.

Vinnies has expanded their clothing racks, and they've got heaps of kids rash vests if you want to get in early for summer.

And there's a "silent sale" at the Salvos - I didn't find out about it until I asked how much the old magzines were. If you buy one of their reusable bags for 95 cents you can fill it with books for free. Bad luck if you wanted the 25 Gourmet/Gourmet Traveller magazines from the late 1980s and early 1990s, as I've greedily snaffled them.

Much Madness in Mitchell

As The Shopping Sherpa pointed out, Vinnies in Mitchell was having a two day Warehouse sale.


So on Friday morning i put my op-shopping shoes on and set of for the Mitchell Vinnies store.

I realised the sale was popular when i was one street away and saw cars parked everywhere. Although they did have some sense and have one set of doors marked as in and another as out. As you walked in you were given a price list and they also had a sausage sizzle going and had hired two porta-loos that were setup in the car park.

Once inside i saw that they had not renovated the old shop, but had instead added two extra rooms, which doubled the space of the old shop. Clothing and shoes where everywhere, and piled high.




And for some reason (that only ever happens in op-shops and Best and less, the mens wear was hidden at the back right of the shop.

I found nothing i wanted in the mens pants area although as i was leaving i ran into a friend who had picked up a Duck-down jacket. The price list said jackets are $7.00, so i have to assume she got it for that.

After, i went round to the Mitchell Salvos store. I saw a number of faces there that i had seen earlier at Vnnies, so i have to assume they were doing ok too.

Op Shop outfit

(Reprinted from The Shopping Sherpa)

In the spirit of perempuan's recent post: Today's outfit consisted of:

Skinny rib: $6, Salvos Fyshwick
Skirt: $6, Salvos Queanbeyan
Shoes: $4, Vinnies Queanbeyan
Wool coat: $12, Vinnies Phillip (not shown)

Tip off from a reader...

Hi

I thought you might be interested in this article on RiotACT - http://the-riotact.com/?p=13354

Cheers
Tara

St Vincent de Paul Society (Vinnies) - MONSTER WAREHOUSE CLOTHING SALE

21 August, 2009 to 22 August, 2009
St Vincent de Paul Society (Vinnies) Spread the word to all friends and colleagues this is an event not to be missed! Fri 21 and Sat 22 Aug

9am - 5pm
10 Buckland Street, Mitchell

For the first time the public are invited to shop in our massive sorting facility. All proceeds go to Vinnies Youth who care for under privileged children in our community.

PLUS: SATURDAY NIGHT 22nd August - Vinnies at Tuggeranong are holding a fashion parade extravaganza.

Tickets to the Fashion Parade are available by calling Dee 6208 6000 or drop into your local Vinnies store.

Today's Treasures

(Reprinted from The Shopping Sherpa)

Spotty shirt: $3.50 (Vinnies Queanbeyan: the collar sits a bit strangely so it'll be unpicked and finishing it as a chinese collar)Daisy shoes WITH COLOUR! (Also Vinnies Queanbeyan: $4.00)

100% Merino stripy ribbed jumper (Vinnies Narrabundah: $7.00)

Where the wild things are book (Salvos Mitchell: $1.00)Arty box with oil paints and watercolour paints and acrylic paints and brushes and matte varnish (Vinnies Dickson: $20)I'm happy!

If you're in the market for...

Old movies on DVD: Little Salvos in Queanbeyan, $4 each (could be the ideal Christmas present for someone...)

A gorgeous vintage lounge suite(we didn't test it for comfort):Salvos Mitchell, $300.

An almost complete set of Childcraft books (I think #7 was missing): Vinnies Dickson, $1 each.

A light blue portable typewriter: Salvos Queanbeyan: price unknown.

Bargain clothing: Vinnies Queanbeyan has all clothing half price and Bargain Hunter (almost next door) has 50% off "selected jeans, lingerie, sleepwear and touch of class (green ink only)"

Fashionably frugal

Three upcoming fashion parades using op shopped clothing:

and Re-loved 2 will be held at Craft ACT on the evening of Thursday October 22nd (photos from Re-loved here)

Op shopping karma?

Op shop find
Originally uploaded by redmag

Do you have any weird rules for your rummaging? Any superstitions?

I had this stupid concept of opshopping karma (for lack of a better word) This means ther's only ever a certain amount of wonderful things for you out there and you shouldn't be too greedy because you'll be disappointed.....
....so if I have a dream shop where I find one amazing thing....or lots of perfect things in each shop I go in to - I take a short break

.....or when I found a huge stack of really cute mixtape scarves still in their packets on Friday - I excercise great restraint only taking as many as I could handle ( ten in this case) and as a result got a nice surprise when t went to pay - they were half price!

Do you impose silly ideas on your second hand hunting?

.....

To Scullin I op

Overheard in Scullin op-shop a few weeks ago between a woman and the shop volunteer: "Everything I wear comes from this shop."

I chuckled and examined my outfit then:


What I wore on that day:
Top: Witchery via Scullin op-shop, $4
Pants: Country Road via Scullin op-shop, $4
Shoes: Sketchers via Scullin op-shop, $3

Yeah, yours truly for a whopping $11. An extreme case of supporting your local shop? ;-) Or maybe they should start a loyalty program?

Op shopping online?

This came through one of the Library list serves I belong to last week: (in part)

"The Brotherhood of St Laurence (BSL) established an online books facility recently, selling second hand books. All monies raised flows back into the BSL so that we can continue to provide services for the disadvantaged members of our community. Although not officially launched yet, sales from Brotherhood Books have been strong and are increasing, and as a result, we need more stock!

www.brotherhoodbooks.org.au
Giving books a second chance"

So now you can op shop 24/7 in Australia (many thrift stores in the USA have an eBay presence already).

The question is will other op shops follow? And how will this affect the bricks and mortar op shop experience: will the best bits be held to sell online?