OP SHOPS! Who else shops there, and why do you love them?

[hammahorror]

I have been buying things from op shops since I was a teenager. I love browsing through the weird and wonderful things you might find.

Some are better than others, sometimes it's nothing but junk and then other times you can walk out with bags of amazing things!

Who else here is addicted to op shopping, and which ones do you think are the best to buy from?

[katymatey*]

I discovered op shops many years ago. I can't go past one without having a look. Have found some nice things over the years. Salvo's I don't bother with any more. They turned them into more like retail shops than op shops. I like Vinnies though.

I usually come out with a book or two which I read and pass on. I just discovered this weekend that the Brotherhood have an online second hand book store. I am trying to work my way through that as well.

[imastawka]

Don't give up on the Salvos, guys,   They have  'work for the dole'  people

out the back sorting stuff and sometimes a gem gets through.

I recently picked up a Stuart crystal salad bowl  for $5 and a (google this one)

Pallme-Konig signed and dated 1894 -  vase for $10 - worth approx $200

I'll try an image - fingers crossed

  bit big, sorry. not mine, but similar

[cherry*135]

My Mum was an op shopper..she volunteered in one to. Mostly clothes for sale in those days. The op  shops made me sneeze with their dustiness, so I wasn't that keen on going to them then.

I like to look in them now. I live in a tourist town  and the St V one is overpriced!  They have been having 25% off everything a lot recently and saw a SALE sign today when driving past. So they must be feeling the pinch, if people aren't spending there.

The nearest Salvos to me is quite good, they have dropped their prices in the last year, is very organised, big, has a lot of variety. 

They have glass slabs for table tops, glass lamp shades for lights etc... spare saucepan lids..all recycled.They  still have Video tapes, cassette tapes,all arranged on shelves easy to look through.

I think op shops for good china and stuff like that have gone down hill in the last 5 or so years. I used to often go with my daughter and get English china teacups etc, and you don't see that here anymore.

People sell more collectable stuff on eBay than donate too I suppose.

[nicnacs_4u]

Love op shops..do the local lot plus more every week been doing this for too many years. ..picked up so much stuff from books collectables bric a brac etc I could stock an antique shop...much harder to find good stuff now know many ppl who get invited out the back. ...

[purple_haize]

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@debra9275 wrote:

we went to Ringwood today Val as there's the salvos, vinnies and savers all together but i didn't find anything I had to buy there. On the way back we called in at a Vinnies in Springvale Rd & that was where i found the bowl, sitting up high on a shelf, I'm glad OH was with me because i couldn't reach it  

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Deb, our closest Savers is at Fountain Gate, never knew it existed until I went shopping with my daughter a while back..............I bought heaps of clothes, for myself and hubby and most were only $5 or less...........must go again soon, will take hubby with me.

Like the bowl, by the way.

[purple_haize]

I have gone off Vinnies as well, a while back, a friend of mine who sells antique items on her facebook store and on ebay, took a dinner set to Vinnies, the woman said *oh we have to many of these* and proceeded to chuck it all in the bin.

There was no need for the woman to do that, she could have just said, they didnt want it..

This was in The Dandenong Ranges, so I dont go to them or the Salvos, only go to the small church ones or other small ones.

[cherry*135]

That annoys me a bit purple. When they get picky...or snap 'what is it' when you ask if you can donate something.

I know they don't want unsaleable junk, but if they want donations I think they mostly have to take what they get.

The Salvos in the city, have a big sign (roughly written up on a whiteboard) as you go into the store saying "We appreciate your donations but we don't accept:

Cassettes

Video Tapes

and other stuff I forget what it was.

Yet, the Salvo's I go to (less then 1/2 hr from the city one)  do accept that stuff. Not stuff I would buy, but I do see Mum's buying their kids VHS tapes, and men going through the cassette tapes.

[purple_haize]

AM, this wasnt junk that my friend had, it was a good dinner set, she has heaps of them, and just thought she would give one to Vinnies, it smashed to pieces, she was really upset and mentioned it on her f/book page saying she would never give them anything ever again.

If they didnt want it, they should have said so, but they didnt, they threw it in the bin right in front of her eyes.......

[fourandsixpants]

Yes I love a visit to local 'Op' shops.....Op stands for 'Opportunity' Shop btw:)

I have found some beeeeyutiful vintage fabric in large lots at our large Family Store in the past at wonderful prices.

In Bunbury, where I live there is a rather quaint custom that is followed.....if you have an item that is no longer required all you have to do is place it out on the verge and it will be picked up promptly by the first person who wants it!

I picked up a lovely wooden dressing table 1930's a few years ago a few streets away.....but I did first go and knock on the door and ask if they had put it out for collection? Felt it the right thing to do being that to me, it was a valuable item. The lady was lovely and begged me to take it away. Which I did. She refused to take anything for it saying that I was truly doing her a favour as she had no room for it and it was time for it to find a new home.

I have left many things out on the verge over the years. Good divan sofa bed, inlaid antique cupboard, rubber car tyres, used office chairs, bikes, aquariums........if anything is damaged people read the 'damaged' sign attached.......takes a little longer, a day or two but the damaged items always seem to find a home.....what goes around comes around and one man's rubbish is another man/woman's treasure too!

[cherry*135]

That;s bad purple. Makes you wonder, if it was a volunteer with no clue.

I didn't mean your friend was donating junk. Just op shops do get stuff sometimes that is unsaleable, that people should have thrown out instead of donating on the other hand they do get lots of stuff they can sell.