Where’s the Opportunity gone in our Opportunity shops? It seems that now they should just be called ‘shops’ because the opportunity to find a bargain is almost non-existent.
Where are those cute, pokey, over cluttered, delicious opshops gone that send your heart racing when you spot the words OP- in your peripheral vision while driving?
The ones that are filled with darling old ladies drinking tea, where everything’s from 25c – $1. The ones where true opportunities lie.
Unfortunately many have closed down, I believe due to the larger chain ‘opshops’ receiving the bulk of the donations. So sad :( There are still a few around and I always support them and send people their way.
I rarely opshop anymore. I’ve come close to giving up faith in them.
I certainly don’t rely on them as any source of stock anymore. There’s rarely anything good in them, never mind anything spectacular. Anything I do find in them I consider a bonus.
Sure you’ll always hear about that one dream piece that someone found, but how many years of opshopping did they do to find that one amazing piece?
The last few times I’ve been opshopping, I’ve not only not enjoyed it, but I’ve left buying nothing. Not even with something that’s ‘okay’ or that piece that you only bought for the sake of buying something. (We’ve all done that!) I lost a days worth of working, half a tank of fuel, and temporarily lost my mind.
I used to opshop daily and I used to love it! I’d sometimes come home with a car load of great pieces! Daily I’d find great things for the shop, for myself, for friends. Now, it’s always a real let down and a true waste of time. :(
I still pick up bits and pieces for the kitchen, tea-towels, mugs, bits and bobs that I don’t want to buy new, but nothing that is actually.. well… good!
Sure my tastes have changed and matured meaning I’m more picky and buying less, but even the lower price range of treasures I once would buy aren’t around either.
It’s not always the opshops faults. They just aren’t getting the quality donations that they used to get. And the larger chain stores are often listing their good quality stock online now instead of putting them in the shop, completely removing the opportunity for us to find something for our collections.
Once upon a time, the way to know if something had value, it would take years of dealing in the industry, reading tons of books, making mistakes to know that somethings valuable or worthless.
Now, people just have to google something, look it up on eBay, and they’re an instant dealer, making it very hard for opshops to get great stock as people are holding onto pieces of value, or selling it themselves, and when on occasions opshops do get good pieces, they’re heavily over priced, often more expensive than retail.
Because of this, I was quite surprised to find what I did today. I just popped into my local opshop as I do when passing, and left with three nice pieces.
I picked up these three pieces of retro goodness. The large West German looking vase at the back is surprisingly Austrian, the one on the right I believe is Italian and then the main surprise. The glass vase on the left is a Whitefriars bark vase. Sure it’s something that could slip under the radar if it was unmarked, as there’s a lot of bark vase copies out there, but there right on the front of it, was the Whitefriars sticker.
Something that this opshop usually would have looked up immediately and put in their special cabinet for $200 or something crazy. I nabbed it up with sweaty hands (Something I haven’t experienced in an opshop for a while now) as I couldn’t believe that it was still sitting their in an opshop, and that no one else had picked it up before me. The craziness. I mean like I said, it’s not an stupidly amazing piece, but it’s something you just don’t see in opshops anymore.
A little faith in the land of opshops has been restored today, but not enough to send me out on another day long opshopping journey in the near future. It’s so unfortunate that I can’t enjoy something I used to crave and love.
I really miss the days of doing 20 opshops in a day, getting home and unloading the variety of colourful supermarket bags filled with so much stuff that you actually forgot what you had bought, and as you unpack you get goosebumps all over again realising what exciting things you found that day.
Ah well, que sera sera.
Until my next post
Trish Hunter xx
Hi I certainly agree that the good old op shop days are over. I believe it has much to do with the fact that there is so much ‘thrifting’ going on (don’t get me started on how annoying I find that term!) To be honest the number of peeps you see trawling through the opportunity shops with the goal of personal profit in mind is disgusting. These guys are online shop owners, local secondhand shop owners and those with ebay & etsy shops. It is not in good spirit and has all but ruined it for the genuine op shopper, who does it for pleasure and to decorate their space lovingly.. …. So sad
i’ve really hesitated responding but here goes.
i shop and volunteer at our local salvos. i understand the sentiment about prices going up. but perhaps understand that the ‘profit’ goes to fund the welfare programs and pay for rental and staff. ditto for other charity shops where the funds go to fund those in need.
when my husband lost his job last year, the salvos welfare officer, when she found out, immediately approached us to let us know to contact her if we needed help with food etc. .
and when we were in a bind last year, our need was really food…anything else were wants and superfluous and not ‘buyable’ from op shops.
when i read the post and responses, it seems to me that the unhappiness stems from the lost chance to get something cheap for resale being the real issue. so the increase in prices really affect dealers and ebayers.
nameste
barb
Gosh thank you all for all your comments! I’m so glad I’m not the only one who’s frustrated with our opshops! All of your points were so true, and thanks so much for sharing. I hope you find some treasures super soon to keep you on a bit of an opshop high for a while again. Remind us what it feels like. :)
Trish.
Agreed! I, only being 15, love to opshop but find it hard to find pieces at a reasonable price these days. Not having my driver’s license restricts what shops I can go to and most of my local ones seem to bump the prices up almost to retail price. Church & country opshops seem to be the best places for getting good finds at reasonable prices. I particularly look for Tupperware, Glomesh bags & Enid Blyton books, all of which seem to be in ‘collectable’ or ‘designer’ cabinets at ridiculous prices. :( At least now I have a part time job I can start to afford to look in there :) Though, I do feel better about my finds if I can get them in the 5c – $5 range :)
I think it’s because so many more people are op shopping now! Once upon a time only the needy and “hippies” were op shopping. Now, pretty much everyone, I am one (even though I’ve been doing it for 15yrs), is jumping on the bandwagon. Everyone from hippies to designers/stylists and every possible person in between! Also, there’s a lot of people buying up vintage pieces to resell, I guess the op shops figure if those people can get a certain amount for an item, they should be able to as well. It’s unfortunate, because I miss those days too, but it’s just the way it goes I guess :(
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I write about you in my blog today :-)
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Have a nice day :-)
Totally agree!!! It used to be about win win win, everyone could feel good about donating or shopping and so the cycle continued… And they’ve forgotten they’re not just for ‘good cause’ bargain hunters but also people that genuinely need them and their low cost items!! Sadly, that is the price of ‘fashion’; recycle/upcycle/reuse etc is GREAT philosophy… but like many great things, costly!
If u really love it and it seems the wrong price try negotiating! I often do and am always warmly recieved… And it helps put the ‘op’ back in the shop!!
Happy op shop shopping :)
So agree with you all. In addition to ridiculous prices now being charged by ‘so called’ opportunity shops, I was surprised to find recently at an outer Melbourne suburb op shop, that not all items in the store found their way into new homes. An item which I had my eye on whilst in the store, was wheeled out the back on a trolly, when I asked the lady behind the counter if it was sold, she said that it was not, but when I asked if I could purchase it, was told I could not. I questioned further and found out that the item I wanted had been for sale for longer that a month and it was now being removed from display. No, not what you think to be rotated again at a later stage, it was to be thrown into the dumpster out the back. I think people would be horrified to learn that items they have donated are not being sold to benefit the local community, but being thrown away if there is no instant appeal, because they are taking up valuable floor space. So sad and they missed out on a sale.
i agree, i only continue to shop at op shop because i would rather a charity take my $10 than Kmart and other big companies that manufacture out of china etc. Is it that op shops have simply become greedy?
Nice find, I’d be smiling, Irish ;)
I was just complaining about this recently as well. I am in the US and my three favorite local “thrift” shops have been so lame recently. I was unsure if it was the time of year – people donating less, or what. I went into three shops yesterday and only bought a couple of things at one. :/ For my Etsy shop, I have been getting inventory at antiques shops; which means less inventory. And having to pay more for items, which means higher prices in my shop.
I am looking forward to warmer weather coming back, for the church rummage sales, estate sales, and garage sales. :)
So true…I remember a few years ago when money was tight. I was in St Vinnies looking for cheap (affordable) curtains. I found a pair I liked but when I queried the price, was told they were $30. I was shocked and told the lady behind the counter I could get nicer ones from Kmart for that price…to which she responded “well, you might be better off shopping there then”. I couldn’t believe her attitude.It really irks me, as they are given everything for free and they are supposed to be there to help those in need, not to make a huge profit on everything. Even if they only make $1 or $2 on an item, it’s 100% profit.
This is why I love visiting country op shops so much. Too often, suburban ones have been thoroughly done over and all of the treasures are long gone, whereas the country ones still seem to harbour surprises and a couple of old ladies having a good old gossip at the counter.
I completely agree with you. The thing that I have noticed most is the increase in price, especially clothing. I often wonder how a struggling mum or dad would feel walking in and seeing high prices on basic clothing items. It is a real shame that shops like the salvos, brotherhood etc have taken a corporate approach with their shops. Whenever I have visited I have felt that all character has been lost, the staff are no longer chatty or friendly and prices inflated for donated goods. Unfortunately as a result I no longer donate to these stores and seek out ones that have maintained some of the charm I remember.
Thanks for a great article Trisha & I totally agree where have those quaint shops gone with bargains galore. Love the item at back of ur photo if u ever want to onsell to someone (pick me) lol ;-)
I agree with you unfortunately, dropped of two HUGE bags to our local op shop yesterday (filled with excellent condition,clean & complete items) and saw a gorgeous old “new home” sewing machine in the old wood & iron table (like an old singer), upon close inspection it was in very bad condition, water damage to timber, split & chipped also, rust etc – I queried the price only to be told it was $250 !!!!!! they got it for nothing – in that hideous condition and want $250 ???? I was completely disgusted and walked away very disheartened with them and wishing I’d unloaded my goods to a smaller, non franchise type op-shop …….. sigh …….
I most certainly agree with you there. I live in Sydney and all the op shops here have really put their prices up. Gone are the days when the needy could shop in these places because that was what they could afford. All the bric a brac is usually cheap and nasty unwanted gifts that have been donated, which is usually more expensive than brand new from retail shops. I have always been an op shopper, it’s an addiction. Unfortunately, like you, I usually walk out empty handed. However, on a trip to the UK last year, I found some really nice things in the op shops there. I even found a French Hallmarked trinket box for a couple of aussie dollars, which I proudly display in my lounge room. I’ve also found that sometimes Church jumble sales have nice things donated by little old ladies. It’s worth looking at.
Maria