Op shopping...

Hayley and I went out to a local op shop for the first time today.

Ours is not a big town but we have 3 op shops. One of them is run by the Salvation Army and is very business-like, they charge a little more but do have a large range of goods. Last week I got Erin a pink handbag for $3. She had wanted one like that for a while...a true bargain.

Another of the op shops is run by the Hospital ladies auxillary for the benefit of thelocal  hospital. It is crammed with stock and every so often they have a 50c sale and you can pick up some astonishing bargains. Hayley is a regular at that establishment. You always see the ladies out the front sifting through donations and piffing rubbish into a giant skip, that breaks my heart that they have to do so much work because of thoughtless people. They do a great job supporting the hospital.

The third one is a 'St Vinnies' and is a small tin shed at the back of St Bernards church. It is only open 9-12 on Mon, Thurs, Fridays which is why we haven't been in before. We always forget to go down during their opening hours. But we remembered today and ventured in to a virtual Aladins cave.
It was packed full of treasures! And it was very neat with everything in its own particular place and it didn't smell either. Rows of categorised clothing, manchester, homewares, furnishings and toys greet you as you walk in. We fossicked around and admired the range and the way it was all laid out. I particularly liked that the lovely ladies there have 'featured' clothing or handbags that they think are extra special. And they have taped together crockery sets so they don't get split up. Winter coats were only $5 today and there were boxes of dolls, action men and barbies all neatly stacked just waiting to be played with. I could just imagine them leaping off the shelf after closing and getting into mischief just like in Toy Story!

I just wish I had taken my camera to capture the wonder of the glorious op shop. It seemed a bit more special than your average op shop...bountiful with opportunities.