Op Shop Adventures - Bentleigh

Centre Road, Bentleigh, where all the op shopping action is. This past Saturday we went adventuring to 5 op shops, 2 of which were in Centre Road (there are actually several along the same strip, but I've been to a couple of them before). The day was shaping up to be beautiful, weather wise, I just felt like everything was going to turn out awesomely.

So first up was...

Sacred Heat Mission

271 Centre Road Bentleigh

9557 0895

Mon - Sun 10am - 5pm

We were greeted first by baskets and suitcases waiting at the front door, all in wonderful condition, some filled with toys and others with linen for sale. 

Upon walking in the door there are so many things to look at, from books, to costumes, to linen and jewellery. 

Books for miles! Everything was so well organised, no rummaging through books, it was nice and easy to have a look at all the book spines and work out what we wanted. Justin ended up with a couple of books from here, no idea what they were, but he was happy!

  

In the centre of the store they have a couple of large storage racks full of glassware and crockery. I bought 4 large drinking glasses, and 2 nice little spotty mugs for work, at $1 each for the glasses, and $2 for the mugs. The glasses were a hit, so I think I might head back next weekend and buy a couple more.

 

I just loved how the store recycled everything to decorate the store, or organise and store their products. Above left is the way they organise ladies intimates, and on the right is the change rooms, which look like giant glass doors, covered by coffee bags! All in all, we left with 2 mugs, 4 glasses, 2 winter scarves, new shoes for Justin, a couple of books and a checkered jacket too. Everything was really well priced, and the staff were wonderful!

We left with smiles on our faces, and hope in our hearts! Off to Vinnies!

394 Centre Road, Bentleigh VIC 3204

(03) 9557 1002

Mon - Sun 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

The store display that can be seen from the street was full of goodies when we went, but I completely forgot to take a photo, so here is the front table instead! A bit jumbled, but still full of fun things to look at. 

The store was reasonably busy which was nice to see, and it looked like there was a new volunteer working that day who was still learning the ropes. We wandered a little, having a look at all of the clothes on display, which were plentiful, but we didn't find much for us. I did however find an amazingly soft grey woollen scarf, so I had to have that (one can never have too many scarves).

 

The store had a great stock of winter coats, both natural and man made fibres at great prices ($8?!?!?) and fashion handbags of all sizes and styles. The handbags were a little hard to look through just because of how they were stored, but if you really  wanted to, you could work it out.

 

As is tradition at most Vinnies stores, they also had the 'Vintage' rack for $20 a pop. Some interesting designs I must say, none of them appealing to me though. They also had some great shoes for sale, sadly, none of them to fit my flippers. I was surprised however at their rather large selection of larger sizes. Look at all that gloriness! (That's a word, right?)

When we were paying for our goods, the lady at the register was so lovely! She was training, so it took her an extra minute or two to work everything out, but we chatted while she worked, and her boss was teaching her at the same time. It was so nice to see older people working and learning new things! 

Granted we didn't find much here, it was still a lovely store to visit.

We didn't find all of the op shops on Centre road, so will be heading out again in a couple of weeks to find the rest.

Love,

J xx

Op Shop Adventures - Mountain Gate

Just down the road from my house is a small shopping area, with a Coles, Safeway (It's not Woolworths damn it!) and a few random shops. Mixed in is a Villa Maria op shop, and across the road is a large Salvos. Unfortunately the Villa store was closed, but we headed over to the Salvos to see what we could find.

Salvos Mountain Gate

Mountain Gate Shopping Centre3 Mountain Gate DriveMountain Gate

9756 0495

 

There is plenty of parking out the front, and there are a few other large 'factory' stores in the same lot. Now, I know sometimes it can be confusing to find, but if you're ever in the area, look out for the Carpet store on the corner, and turn in there. The store is larger than it looks from the outside, and they have everything from clothes, to mattresses, and pretty much everything in between, even a piano!

The selection of clothes is really good, and they've categorised everything just like you'd expect. It's easy to search for specific things you want, because of how it's set out, but the lighting isn't the best, so it can be hard to see colours and stains etc. on the clothes. 




They have a massive selection of books to chose from and even have a couple of chairs so you can sit and read. This would be awesome, except for the older male staff member who routinely patrols the store and tells off people when he thinks are misbehaving. Kids, adults, he'll tell off anyone. But don't let that put you off, the rest of the staff there are amazing. Smiles and jokes all round!

There is a small yet formidable selection of CD's to look through, as well as a few records and DVD's.

Everything is sorted out into categories like adult fiction and kids books, so again, it makes things easy to find (I'm beginning to see a pattern here...).













The only thing I couldn't really find were many kids toys, I mean there were a few soft toys, and a small basket of medium sized toys (water pistols, dolls etc), but nothing that really catches your eye. I think it would be amazing if they had a section for the kids to actually play with some of the toys, I know for me when I go shopping with my friends kids, they want to take home the toys they play with. It just makes good business sense! 

 

 

They had an awesome selection of glassware, which was really neatly displayed on a wall. From sets of glasses, or one off water jugs, to vases and bowls, the options were endless. You can't really see it from the front of the store, as it's currently hidden behind a wall of wooden furniture, but all the better for me I say!



Speaking of the wall of furniture, facing the glassware were buffets and dressers filled with kitchen goods. They had quite a few items of 'vintage' Tupperware (I say vintage because these are ones I remember my Oma having at our old holiday house in Philip Island), and some great bread boxes. They also had some kitchen gadgets, like scales, graters and the such.



I was actually pretty impressed with this store. Considering it's size, and ignoring the cranky old man, I couldn't find anything wrong with it. I mean obviously every store has it's downfalls, this one being the lighting, all in all it was a pretty great find. Yes, the prices were stock standard Salvos prices, but I think the pricing for the larger items was actually pretty decent. 

I'll most certainly be coming back when I head over to the Villa store. Hopefully next time I can walk away with arms full of goodies!

Love

J xx

Op Shop Adventures - Malvern & Ashburton

A couple of weeks ago we went out shopping with my sister in law Vanessa, to some of her favourite op shops. Now, Malvern and Ashburton are normally not on my radar, so I don't bother to go out there. But, considering I wasn't driving, I couldn't complain. We made it to the Salvos in Ashburton, and Vinnies and The Ashburton Oppy in Ashburton. We also went to another Salvos more local to my house, but I'll talk about that separately.

So, firstly was the Salvo's in Malvern:
57 Glenferrie Road, Malvern
9576 0642

  

 

The store is easy to find, and brightly lit. They were playing some nice music in the background, and the store was full of people.

  

Now, like a lot of SALVO's I've been to recently I found the prices to be a little high. But I guess given that Malvern is a high end area I really should have expected it. I still had a look around just in case there was something super special I just 'had to have'. There wasn't, but I did enjoy looking at all of the amazing things. They had beautiful crockery and a spotty tea set I was tempted to take home, if only I had more room! 

I did however find a nice scarf that came home with me, beautiful silk with green and purple butterflies on it. It cost me nearly $7, but I do have a strange love for scarves, so I was okay with it. Now that we had our little purchases, it was off to Ashburton to find out what goodies they had!

The Ashy Op Shop
285B High Street (corner of Welfare Parade)
Ashburton
9885 5923

 

Where to start? Firstly, there is an outside and an inside store. Sounds strange I know, but essentially the outside is for furniture and larger items, and the actual store is for clothes, crockery, bric-a-brac etc. Of course we went rummaging through the furniture first, not looking for anything in particular, but had fun looking anyway. The wooden furniture is all under cover, and the plastic things, like kids toy trikes and baby baths (yes, there were 3 of them) were all out next to the fence, which has no cover. At first I thought it was a little odd, but it makes sense really, considering how much stuff they actually had there, compared to the room.



Next was into the store! They had a few displays out the front full of random things, and inside the store was no different. Mind you, walking into the store was like stepping back at time, I mean really, look at that carpet! I was amazed at how the small store was so full of beautiful things, and how well organised it was.

 

Yes it was a little cluttered, but really you can't expect much more. They had collections of handbags, records, books, crockery, vintage and retro clothes, random electronics, and my favourite, buttons!

  

The staff there were so lovely, and they had no problem with us rifling through things, or me taking photos. I wish I had more energy to stay and keep looking, I feel like there were so many hidden treasures!

We went across the road to the Ashbuton Vinnies afterwards...

Vinnies
252 High Street
Ashburton
9885 2952

We we greeted with a wonderous display of goodies outside the store, which was fun to rifle through, had a great selection of scarves and bakeware. Sadly the rest of the store was lacking much for me, I'm sure others would love it's collection of crockery though! 






  

I will say though, they had a great selection of plus sized clothing, none of it my style, but still I was impressed such a small store had enough stock to have a plus size section! There were plenty of clothes to sort through, but not a whole lot else. After Vinnies, we were planning to go home, but ended up stopping off at another Salvos near my house (Mountain Gate), but I'll post that separately.

Love,

J xx

Op Shop Adventures - Ringwood

I've realised I live in such a rich op shop area, there is at least one in almost every suburb around us. I thought it might be nice to go adventuring and give reviews on them. This past Saturday we went into Ringwood to explore the local oppies, and here is what we found:

Savers Ringwood
79-83 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood, VIC, 3134
03 9870 1600

Mon-Wed, 9am-7pm
Thur-Fri, 9am - 9pm
Sat, 9am - 6pm
Sun, 10am - 6pm

Firstly, as soon as you walk in the store it's clothes, clothes as far as the eye can see. The store is a split level, so all of the adult clothes and shoes are on the main floor, then kids clothes, books, manchester and pretty much everything else, is on the lower floor.





The store is well lit, and very well organised, which makes it a pleasure to shop there. The staff were all very helpful when we asked questions about the stock, and even had a joke with me when I questioned the final cost (a total of $50 when I thought it would be more like $100). The change rooms are roomy, clean and well lit.

   

I think because they're such a large store, with so much stock, they can make their prices a little cheaper. For example, kids clothes ranging from 99cents to $5 each, depending on the item. Womens tops all for $4 or under. Records for $2 each, and even less for the smaller ones. 





The stock we looked at all seemed to be in pretty good condition, and the prices were easy to see (the tags for clothes were in obvious places, price stickers for books on the back cover etc).

All in all, I loved going to Savers. We came away with a bag of clothes and a book, for $50, which I thought was amazing. The only thing I missed was seeing a Plus Size section, but I guess you can't win 'em all!

Next was onto Salvos, which is essentially right next door.

Salvos Ringwood
71 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood
Mon-Fri, 9:00 - 5:30pm
Sat, 9:00 - 5:30pm

Look, I'm not going to lie, we walked into the store, went around once and walked out. The store was dark & musty, the staff were grimacing and I found everything to be over priced.

That being said, we did see an amazing pair of hand painted shoes, which were pretty rad. Not my size, but still, pretty cool.

The store was set out nicely, with fashion displays in the window, and everything very neat and organised. It was easy to tell in which area things belonged, but I think that was also because the store is in such a small space.

Maybe if I'm feeling more forgiving next time, I might take a second look.

Pit stop to pee and rehydrate, then off to Vinnies accross the road.



Vinnies Ringwood
2/82 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood
Mon-Sat, 9:00- 5:00pm
Sun, 10:00 - 5:00pm



Upon entering the doors, we were greeted with happy staff, a lovely looking store, and a beautiful display. There was music playing in the background, and many colour coordinated treasures to look at.



We walked around for a bit, and ended up buying more kids clothes for Izzy, my girlfriends daughter, as well as six tea towels and I think a couple of other random things. 

I was so impressed with the layout and organisation of the store, especially the bedding section. Everything was in their own pigeon holes, in bags, all separated by size. It was a sight to behold. In front of the manchester, there was some wooden furniture, such as dining tables and chairs, a buffet, and a wardrobe. The tables were presented nicely, without having piles of stuff on top.





There was plenty of crockery, including, my favourite, tea cups! We have our own little collection at home. I'll share it here one day, if I ever remember haha. Anyway, they had a lot of matching cups and saucers, and even some sets. They weren't the cheapest I've ever seen, but it may be because of the label? Not knowing much about fancy tea sets, I couldn't tell you for sure.



I was pretty happy with the store, they don't always have the best prices, but it's a nice store to be in, has a good vibe if you know what I mean. It was easy to navigate around and had a fair amount of stock to sort through.

Right, now we've been out and explored Ringwood, we'll be going around to more of my local suburbs to see what their op shops have to offer.
If you have any suggestions of where we should go, comment down below (I'm a poet and didn't even know it!).

I'd like to also head out to different sales and markets to see what's on offer, so even if it's out of my comfort zone, like wedding or baby expos, let me know anyway, if I have time I'll head over and see what's what!

Much love,

Jayde xx