Northland hospices and charity drop-ins popular stop-ins for Christmas shopping

Marianne Egert, left, and retail manager Kathy McMillan, at the North Haven Hospice Shop. Photo / Michael Cunningham

An increasing number of Northland families on wafer-thin budgets are choosing to shop at charities like hospices for Christmas presents and general household goods, as the cost of living threatens to crimp their festivities.

When volunteers at the North Haven Hospice Shop in central Whangārei put up tables for their Christmas decorations, customers bought them right out of the boxes, while there were also many looking for toys for their children and grandchildren.

Retail manager Kathy McMillan said this year, an influx of people coming to buy presents from a charity for Christmas was a sign of the times.

“We also see a lot more of what’s happening here and in the Waipū store, [which] is that if someone hasn’t quite got enough money, someone’s actually offering to pay the rest of the money to help out, and that’s actually starting to happen quite a lot.

“It’s just a beautiful story, [that] one. If you find someone else in the same situation, then you can pay it forward. It’s that giving heart this year,” she said.

Her store is becoming busier in the lead-up to Christmas, and some people spend “quite a few hours” shopping for affordable items, she said.

“A lot of people are different because they are wanting to gift things to people a little bit more, and we’ve got good second-hand stuff here and they love shopping here.

“And you do hear them say, ‘I’ve only got this amount of money’, and you’ve got couples that come in, they’ve only got this sort of money - so, what happens is, they’ve got everything laid out on the bed, and they are actually calculating what everything is, and then they put things back if they can’t afford it.

“They enjoy doing it, though, but it’s a sad thing. Different people are coming into the shop that have never been in the shop before, didn’t realise what we sold, and loved it - walked out with a big grin on their faces,” McMillan said.

Even Aucklanders who have baches in the region or who’ve had a look while travelling through Northland have said they would buy more from op-shops and charity shops, she said.

McMillan said her op-shop’s motto - ‘Turning second-hand goods into first-class care’ - not only meant money spent was put to good use, but income earned stayed in the region.

“People are struggling out there, and it takes your heart. It takes your heart because they are actually gifting our patients a good end of life by spending money in the shop.”

Even clothing and furniture which was a little bit rougher was also in demand, she said.

SPCA op-shops across Northland have also noticed a rise in second-hand shopping, especially a strong shift in people buying sustainable gifts - more than ever before.

“Christmas decorations are incredibly popular items for shoppers at this time of the year, along with clothing and home décor. With the cost of living going up, along with people putting more thought into sustainability, op-shopping has seen a real revival across New Zealand,” SPCA national op-shop manager Cathy Crichton said.

Like hospices, SPCA op-shops in Northland are in need of volunteers, especially at busy times of the year.

Over the last two years, the North Haven Hospice Shop in Whangārei lost about 170 volunteers, and McMillan said she would love for school students and people who were in the beginning of their retirement to give the gift of time.

“We had to close on Sundays because we had no staff. People that are new in town: come and volunteer, meet people and be a part of the community. It’s important they feel connected.”

When it’s busy, up to 600 people visit the hospice daily.