Getting down in The 'Nong

Yesterday I decided to head off to Dandenong to check out it's offerings, I'm down there quite often because I work nearby, but I until now I hadn't made my way into it's op-shops, save the megastore that is Noble Park.

St Vincent de Paul – 254 Auburn Rd, Hawthorn

I headed off from my place and checked into my local. I've had some good finds here in the past – THE hat (R.I.P.) and also what is probably now by best business-like shirt. Alas, there wasn't much on offer today, except for some guy talking loudly on his phone, sounded like he had better meet whatshisface pretty soon to give that money.

Salvation Army – 400 Princes Hwy, Noble Park

The forementioned megastore, I've also had some success with this place in the past – in fact, I think I was wearing two items of clothing from that store. I have begun collecting ties, well, I actually began a while back but it has taken me this long to admit it. It's rather silly because, 1) I wear ties to weddings and little else 2) I really don't like “collecting” things. Anyway, I had a poke through their ties, fortunately they were mostly all hideous and didn't even begin to tempt me. Not much in the way of clothes – they still have about 15 tiny Salvo suit jackets, I'd entertain the idea of getting one if there was one in my size. This store always seems to be deserted, perhaps it is just its size, but given how much of the same stuff I see there each time, I don't think that it has much turnover. Or perhaps I go there too often.

The Smith Family – 20 Langhorne St, Dandenong

So I headed into the 'Nong proper and made a base camp in a central carpark. I didn't really plan things that well and ended crossing back around Lonsdale St (the main street) numerous times. Anyway, so I went looking for The Smith Family store and just couldn't find it, well I could find the address, but it wasn't what it should be. Oh well.

Savers – 210 Lonsdale St, Dandenong

Some people hate Savers, not me – I actually like having a choice of suits as opposed to the one or two shoved down the back somewhere. So the place was fairly jumping – generally people seemed to be a bit like me, shopping for that particularly trendy piece of clothing. Perhaps that's what people don't like about Savers – it's a bit of a pseudo op-shop, not enough “poor” people there. It's also a bit more expensive, but you at least get something for it in terms of choice. I tend to feel a bit overwhelmed in Savers – there's so much stuff you don't know quite where to start and because there's so much stuff, you become pickier, something that you would have snapped up in another store becomes a 50/50 proposition. I ended up getting a couple of suit jackets – blue and brown, of course. The blue one was apparently meant to be a 3-piece, but I couldn't find the other pieces. They only had a few ties but I found some good 'uns. All up $25, the ties were $3 and $4 each (yikes!) and the brown jacket was only $6 – bargain! They had some nice looking scarves there, it's not like I need any more scarves ... if I'm not careful they'll become my next “ties”.

Goodwill Connections Store – 247 Lonsdale St, Dandenong

Bah, you can tell from the layout this store last had a male customer was in the late 80's – it's a long thin store with the men's section right down the end. There wasn't much on offer – not that there wasn't much good stuff, it's just that there wasn't much at all – and as it turns out, what there was ... was rubbish. I couldn't even find the ties .. I don't think they had any. I'm thinking of it as a boutique op-shop – very neat and clean, but they seem to be conscious of not having too much stock. I look at what they did have and just came to the conclusion that you're better off stocking the place up to the roof, the law of averages is bound to kick in eventually.

Salvation Army – 17 Pultney St, Dandenong

Well after Noble Park I was expecting a big-ish store, size-wise on par with Camberwell. But this place was pretty small ... and disorganised – your more stereotypical op-shop run by old ladies. Their men's wear section was pretty small, but as it turned out I almost got something - a navy-blue Atelier t-shirt. It fit quiet well, but it was pilling like nobody's business, it also kept on giving me static shocks... so no ...

Brotherhood of St. Laurence – 235 Thomas St, Dandenong

Oooh – a mezzanine level! It's a medium sized store, but still pretty light on in terms of guy's clothing. I didn't spend too long there. I popped into a Indian grocery store in search of some “Mishti Doy” (spelling??), a nice yoghurt-like snack we had over there – they didn't have any, in fact he hadn't even heard of it. I should go back there and get some of their other odd snacks.

Red Cross – 48 McRae St, Dandenong

Another boutique place, neat etc etc – it actually had some brand new stuff from “designer” labels, unfortunately I think that a graduate designer must have been filling in the day the item were designed – the stuff didn't really take my fancy. It's funny when you see some designer clothing – you start thinking .... hmm ... oh it's “brand X” perhaps I should get it... and the label tries to convince you that these plain grey parachute pants are so much better than the same pair that you'd scoff at if the label was missing. So , nothing there for me – but Red Cross seems to have good designer connections, their stores generally do have a lot more new clothing in them than the other, so it might be worth a return visit in the future.

Oz Child Children – 54 McRae St, Dandenong

Um... couldn't find it .... yes and I know it SOUNDS like it's right next to the Red Cross place, but no ... it wasn't there ... I think that it's a soccer store now or something.