Op shops give vital funds to charities

Manager Angela Warren-Clark of Tauranga Women's Refuge. Photo/John Borren

Picking up a preloved item in an op shop is a great way to find a treasure while leaving more cash in your wallet.

Butthe main function of secondhand stores is to provide vital funds to local charities who, withouttheir help, would not survive.

There are atleast 15 op shops throughout Tauranga and Mount Maunganui. Many directly support charities.

Waipuna Hospice shops in Tauranga are "hugely important" to provide their essential service, says chief executive Richard Thurlow.

The total funds required to run the hospice is $2.5 million yearly and the secondhand shops provide half this amount.

Upcycle is Tauranga Women's Refuge store. Operations manager Angela Warren-Clark says they run their shop a little differently from other op shops as the shop ethos is to help their clients.

"We will take goods and profits from the shop to provision our families in need. So we probably don't make the same kind of money if we were just selling. We will give to them [our families] and thatis our commitment to our community."

Funds from the young store, which opened two years ago in Greerton, help tremendously" with the needs oftheir clients, but they always need more. And volunteers are desperately required.

Restore Papamoa store is a 520sq m building in industrial Market Place in Papamoa East, opening early March. It was built by volunteers and is the second Habitatf or Humanity shop to open in the Western Bay.

Tauranga general manager Tim Maurice says the Restore shops are crucial to funds, as proceeds from the Second Ave store have funded the new Papamoa building, which in turn will fund the building of houses in Papamoa (where there are no Habitat-built houses).

SPCA Op Shop Tauranga manager Sharon Leckie says the majority of people who donate to their store are, of course, big animal welfare fans. All their proceeds (after accommodation costs) go back to Tauranga SPCA.

Sharon says op shopping has changed and bargain hunters from all walks of life come looking for a good buy.

"I've seen people pull up in their Porsche to shop."

"The shops I remember from years back were musty and grotty but these days op shops get donated designer clothes, some still have labels on them. Some people come in looking specifically for retro gear as well."

Pregnancy Choice Centre help women with unexpected pregnancies.

They recently expanded their old op shop by moving into the old church on the corner of 11th Ave and Cameron Rd.

Graced Opp Shop and Espresso Bar is essential to the running of Pregnancy Choice Centre not-for-profit organisation, assistant manager Rachel Ohlson says.

She says there's been an assumption thattheir shop sells only maternity and children's wear, which is incorrect.

"We really want people to know that it is a massive op shop and we sell everything that you would expect in an op shop."