Shunned by snobby shopkeepers when it opened just three months ago, a controversial hospice shop on St Heliers Bay Rd is humming. Valerie Schuler reports. A steady flow of smiling shoppers emerge from the Dove Shop on a weekday afternoon. A white delivery van pulls up regularly to unload donated goods andfurniture and other donations, some from local shopkeepers, arrive regularly. The shop's success comes as a surprise, considering the sorry reception it received from some local retailers when it opened in September. As The Aucklander reported, one shop owner, who didn't want to be named, said a secondhand shop did not belong in main street of St Heliers. She said her customers "wouldn't be seen dead walking through its doors''. Others said that the secondhand shop would ruin the beachside suburb's boutique feel and the delivery van would hog precious parking space. Our readers were mortified and their letters came rolling in. Three months on, we returned to the Dove Shop to see how things are going. Local pensioners Marjorie Fisher and Shirley Beresford discovered they had to join a queue to volunteer at the store. "People were literally lining up to work here,'' says Mrs Beresford. "People have been coming from all over Auckland to shop. "I think, in the end, the Dove store has actually done other shopkeepers a
favour.'' Store manager Warren Finlay says there has been a steady flow of quality donations. To make way for the new stock the shop held a huge garage sale at its Glen Innes warehouse last week. "It's brilliant,'' says Mr Finlay. "The quality of our stock and the store's profile have increased hugely. I think that after the article, a lot of people just came in to see what all the noise was about. They thought the shop and stuff we sold would be terrible, but
were very impressed with the standard.'' The Dove Shop's success has enabled Eastern Bays Hospice to offer more day programmes - including aromatherapy, massage and beauty therapy. "The more money we make, the more people we can help,'' Mr Finlay says. As for the nagging shopkeepers who opposed the store, they are very quiet and Mrs Fisher says: "We haven't heard a negative whisper.'' More info: www.ebhospice.org.nz
