An Op-Shopping Journal

One of these things is not like the other

2009-02-15T15:46:00.008+11:00

Typically when people go away on holidays they get up to all kinds of shenanigans that they'd never dream of doing when mired in their dreary day to day life at home - like anyone who's ever been to Las Vegas or that English guy who decided to go skinny-dipping in the moat of the Imperial Place in Tokyo (well, who knows; he could be doing that at home). Regardless, I am proving to not be that type of person; not because I have delusions of living in a higher moral plane to most average folk; somehow being invulnerable to the charms and vices of exotic foreign cultures, but because if recent trips to Adelaide are anything to go by... I get up to exactly the same stuff there as I do here.

So I was back there again, there was no opportunity for a marathon op-shopping spree - just enough time to poke my head into a few places.

Goodwill - Corner of Portrush Rd & The Parade, Adelaide

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This place had charm, although not necessarily of the exotic foreign variety; essentially the shop is in the hall at the back of a magnificent old church. There's some comfy couches to relax on and help yourself to some of the free tea and bread that's on offer. Which is probably the first time that I've seen a tea room and an op-shop combined, perhaps if I was a long retired little old lady I'd sit down there too and whittle away the hours discussing how terribly behaved Gladys' grandchildren are. Actually, on second thought; it would be interesting to sit in an op-shop all day and see the types that came in, the staff might think that I was a little strange, and I'd probably go through most of their tea and bread... but interesting never-the-less - anyone got a lot of free time on their hands at the moment?

Anyway, the store wasn't too badly stocked - it featured what I have dubbed, "The Great Wall of Shoes" - a title which probably removes the need for much elaboration. There was also a cool typewriter that came in its own suitcase, I did briefly consider getting it, merely as a prop it would be pretty funky... of course it would look totally out of place in the bland, bland, bland surrounds that I currently live. Perhaps it is time for that to change? Well, it weighed a ton anyway.

I'm really not sure what my only purchase from the store says about me - it's a shirt, nothing new there, it's blue and made from funky 70's polyester; described on the tag as "100% Silky Polyester" ... it's polyester ... but it's silky! None of this sounds particularly revolutionary, "Wow! A funky polyester 70's shirt... and I thought I knew you." you're probably thinking... well, the problem is that it's exactly the same as a shirt that I picked up from Hunter Gatherer about 3 years ago, minus the small authentic cigarette burn that came with the original. So now I can have a choice - "70's retro" or "70's retro grunge" ... perhaps I should attempt to branch out more before my life becomes caught in a series of largely indistinguishable sub genres.

The shirt was $5 ... not bad. On the whole, the place was pretty cheap.

Salvos - 418 Magill Rd, Adelaide

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The front carpark being full, we pulled into the cramped back carpark of the Salvos; the type of carpark that felt like it had hosted innumerable break-ins, where by the act of simply parking there would automatically void your car insurance. Stepping in through the back door around the piles of post Christmas rejected presents being sorted we found ourselves in the store proper, quite busy with activity. After a quick rummage through the guy's clothing section and picking out a few things, I found myself over at the book section. The section itself was reasonably well stocked, but what really got my attention was the number of oddly titled and generally odd books on one particular shelf; it was as though the Dewey decimal system has been expanded to include such a category.

Titles included -

"Do polar bears experience religious ecstasy?" <- the title of which leaves much room for follow on books with similarly flavoured titles.

"The joy of winning" - written by the fabled author; Beer ... making for an interesting reading cover.
"An illustrated guide to chrysanthemum flowers" and "Encyclopedia of Canarys" <- I always find highly specialised books a little disturbing.

and finally -

"Manners from heaven" <- pure biblical pun heaven!

There was also about 3 shelves of marriage and birth/post natal books. Which I can assure you is not normal.

I also managed to come across another one of those typewriters in a suitcase. It was as though it was meant to be! ... although the logical part of my brain protested so loudly that I didn't end up getting it. This part of my brain also piped up when I sighted some rather large remote control cars and dreams of hooning them around the local side streets passed through my mind.

Despite the potential for excitement, my purchases were eventually limited to this nice shirt -

and a bunch of ties -

Almost embarrassingly, my collection of ties is now rivalling my velvet jacket collection.

A Sort of Homecoming

2009-01-04T00:58:00.012+11:00

Believe or not, op-shopping is not all sexy velvet jackets, unquenchable desires for more ties and vague hopes of blog related accolades... there's a lot of tough, soul-crushingly boring groundwork that goes into any successful venture into the world of the "slightly too big/slightly too small, why does everything smell like mildew and mothballs?" that is often known as op-shopping. Yet, as tends to be the way in this modern world, less exciting and generally more demeaning tasks can often be outsourced to those desperate for the work whilst we lie back a reap the rewards. Typically, it's developing countries that get to drink from this golden challis; yet in this case the lucky recipient was my Mum.

My mum had pushed her IT skills into uncharted territory by creating a master spreadsheet of just about every op-shop from Adelaide to Mt Gambier - just in case they happened to drive through. In this age of the internet and Googling your wife to remember her birthday; one might think that such a list could quickly become obsolete, instead I prefer to engage with the symbolism of such a hand crafted list. I mean, what are really saying about yourself when you reach into your iMan-Bag and whip out your iPhone from its $40 iSock to look up nearby op-shops on Google Street View before sauntering over to barter down someone that closely resembles your dear granny on the cost of an oh-so chic third-hand couch? The good-ol', down-to-earth dog eared and torn piece of paper (usually printed by a dot matrix) says that you're not some faux op-shopping Brunswick St phoney, but that you're a hardcore Smith St op-shopper who's only one bad roll of the dice from becoming a junkie... either that or you can't afford an iPhone.

So like any self respecting, independently-minded fellow of roughly my age, upon arrival into Adelaide airport I was greeted by my parents. Rather than retreating home for some catching up, chit-chat and general interrogation about what I've been up to and why I haven't been calling, I was instead whisked off on a op-shopping spree. So luggage still in tow we went our journey.

Red Cross - 181 Trimmer Parade, Seaton, Adelaide (the Google man didn't drive down this street)

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If I could describe an op-shops as cute, then this would probably fit the definition. Staffed by tottering little old ladies, this place had the highest density of crocheted items anywhere on the planet. I wondered at time whether the staff produced it themselves; a sort of voluntary, non-profit sweat-shop if you will. My suspicions were further aroused by the giant quantity of knitting wool and needles available. The store itself wasn't that big, not much in the way of men's clothing or anything like that, but it was very neat and organised. Despite this, it wasn't bereft of bargains; my parents managed to find some matching
tea set items for pieces that they'd recently broken. Given that the tea set probably came into their possession in the 1970's, it's probably the op-shop equivalent of finding your own message in a bottle on a beach somewhere overseas.

Findon; where the op-shop planets align. Well, it would seem like that if you've ever stumbled across the set of three op-shops there all within a stone's throw of each other.

Salvos - 115 Findon Rd, Findon, Adelaide

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This Salvos is certainly on the larger side and it's got plenty of goodies. Plenty of ties and what not..it's not quite Savers sized, but it's not far off.

My parents continued their run of good finds by coming across a perfectly good slide projector to replace their old one; same model and all. Makes you wonder if my parents have decided to set up camp in the late 70's forever. Later on that night we discovered a bunch of slides in the unit already, a couple's (presumably the former owners) happy snaps from a trip to Canada during what was probably the early 70's. It was a strange view into someone else's world, trapped in another time - unfortunately there was no photos of velvet jackets.

When I was in the store, I was busy coming across interesting clothing articles; have you ever wondered what life would be like in Australia if the communists took over? Look no further than the work of the "State Clothing Corporation". Actually, it was that sort of Castro-chic that seems to have been doing the rounds for the last 10 years.. unfortunately it didn't fit.

Ever thought long and hard about clothing sizes? Perhaps Slim-fit and XL should be considered mutually exclusive.

My book-keeping not being what it should, I really didn't keep a particularly good record of what I got at each store - so here's my best guess at what I picked up here.

Goodwill - 156 Findon Rd, Findon, Adelaide

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Across the road from the Salvos is a Goodwill Store, much smaller in size. It's a strange little place; the towering racks of clothing dwarf you on both sides and nearly made it possible for me to lose my parents in about 50m2 of floor space. It's not a place for modesty either; the doors on the change rooms are low enough to see straight over the top (breathe easy; I discovered this from perspective of looking out ... rather than looking in). The view from the change rooms also gives you a clear view of the street. Needless to say that tall women should probably just go with their instincts when it come to gauging whether an item fits and guys over 6ft shouldn't really enter the store, for fear of being labeled a pervert.

I ended up getting these brown pants -

Vinnies - 127 Findon Rd, Findon, Adelaide

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I had found the staff at the Goodwill a little indifferent as though I'd walked into the perfume section of David Jones and sampled everything I could lay my hands on before leaving without a purchase, so the quaintness of the little Vinnies store was refreshing. The staff were friendly to each other and us; giving us a smile as we flipped through the offerings.

I picked up couple ties, one of which was so amazingly outlandish in its colours and size that it was instantly a required purchase for a friend of mine who has habit of turning such ties into dresses. It is clearly not the other one I got, pictured here -

Salvos - Henley Beach Rd, Fulham, Adelaide

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The adventure continued on at a frenzied pace; next stop another Savlos. I didn't find too much of interest inside. Other than this classic album that must have brought a juvenile smile out of me -

I couldn't actually bring myself to buy it. My rationale being that if I did buy it, I would only end up hoarding it away somewhere with the rest of my records. All this would achieve would be to deny some other fellow op-shopper the few infantile giggles that I got out of it.

Goodwill - 285 Henley Beach Rd, Underdale, Adelaide

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This store had a bunch of brand new clothing, most of it had a little too much "street-cred" for me; my days as a street hoodlum eyeing off the sneakers of weedy looking teenagers just waiting to be rolled are behind me. Yet as I sifted through the racks I got the feeling that there'd be some good just around the corner. I only came away with the one shirt in the end, there were a few other good things that didn't fit, but the place had potential.

Here's the shirt -

By now most sane families would think that enough was enough, yet armed with the spreadsheet-to-end-all-spreadsheets it was difficult to drive down a road without pointing out that if we just took a slight detour to the left then there'd be another chance to uncover jigsaw puzzle heaven (jigsaws are to my mum what ties are to me). So we made one last visit for the afternoon...

Salvos - 154 Sir Donald Bradman Dr, Adelaide

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Time waits for no man, especially when he's trying to get into an op-shop late on a Saturday afternoon. We hurriedly parked the car and power-walked our way into the store. Somewhere in all the excitement we lost Dad, but he showed up eventually. I tried on a few things, it was all a bit sparse inside and they were closing the store around us and I left empty handed.

One would be forgiven for thinking that seeing 6 op-shops in an afternoon would at least somewhat abate my need for op-shopping... at least for a weekend... naturally this was not the case as the next day we headed out to the Barossa Valley to visit ...

Angaston

Many a great thing come from the Barossa, Jacob's Creek is probably not one of them, but at least there's Angaston to make up for it.

Heading down the main road, I visited the op-shops and second hand stores with an efficiency that would make perpetual motion possible.

Angaston Abbey - 18 Murray St, Angaston

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This place is a combination of antiques and second-hand clothes. The clothes sit somewhere between "second-hand" and "vintage" and the place has the sort of musty incense smell that makes me think that there's gold just around the corner. Unfortunately there wasn't something there for me that day, it wasn't too fussed though, because I still had other options further down the road.

Granny's Attic - 40 Murray St, Angaston

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My original velvet jacket goldmine, I somewhat manically flipped through the clothes looking for another repeat performance. The best I could muster was a slightly-smaller-than-I'd-like-can-I-actually-wear-this-?-nah-I'd-rip-it-if-I-even-so-much-as-twitched velvet jacket, which sadly, I had to pass on. There was plenty of ties though and I managed to pick up three of them, adding to my growing, but mostly unworn collection.

Salvos? - once Shemmeld Lane, Angaston

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Diverging off the main road, I set out to find the Salvos that I knew was hiding out somewhere on the backstreets. I didn't have a map, but in a town the size of Angaston that's hardly a handicap. After a few wrong turns and the channelling of my grandfather's surveying skills I eventually found it. Well, I found a disused, graffitied and hole ridden portable building that used to be the Salvos, there was no op-shop in sight.

OARS - 61 Murray St, Angaston

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This store was absolutely crammed with goods. My original notes tell me that it was in fact: "Messy as all hell". Somewhere in between trying on some pants and returning them I failed to quite see the step and almost fell over; it's particularly embarrassing when old ladies ask you if you need help walking, soon they'll be safely guiding me across the street to earn scout badges. Despite this, I did end up getting the pants, so perhaps she can get the retail badge if such a thing exists.

Given the sorry state of the once Salvos store, I enquired of the little old lady at the OARS store if she knew what had happened to the Salvos, she said that it had closed and now was the "big" store in Tanunda.

Tanunda

Salvos - 2/ 63 Murray St, Tanunda

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A few visits to wineries later we made it to the big Salvos store in Tanunda and well, it wasn't that big, but it was big enough to be home to this shirt with a slightly oversized collar.

... So there you have it. I might have to change either my op-shopping habits or my blogging habits before I attempt another post... The op-shopping should be more tiring than the writeup.

The Mathematics of Op-Shopping 101

2008-06-27T20:26:00.009+10:00

The world is strange and peculiar place, full of many cultures, philosophies and tastes in fashion. Each of her inhabitants are in some way unique; with the possible exception of those found lining up outside Room nightclub on Glenferrie Road.

With all this diversity, it stands to reason that for each person like me who scarcely goes a week without a visit to an op-shop, there are people who have never stepped foot in one. Logical as this may be, it still came as a shock when I discovered that one of my friends was such a person. Harsh judgement of this individual naturally followed. Yet in my humility I decided that there should be more to this story than largely warranted persecution. Nay, I subscribe to a higher ideal, one in which most people are more like me; discernable only by unchangeable physical features.

In the pursuit of this ideal, I invited said individual along on a few op-shopping trips. Now the naturally paranoid op-shoppers amongst you may be thinking "What is he doing??? Doesn't he know the basic maths; that the more people who go op-shopping the less stuff the existing pool of op-shoppers will get, no doubt causing him to miss out on his much coveted velvet jackets?". Fear not dear friends, I would never deliberately jeopardise my chances at pure op-shop gold. I only invite along people whose op-shop areas of interests have no intersection with mine.

This is best explained with the use of set theory; aka Venn diagrams -

Figure 1: Bad person to go op-shopping with.

Figure 2 - Good person to go op-shopping with.

Figure 3: You're op-shopping by yourself again aren't you? You poor, sad loser.

So I can happily report that the op-shop debutant was the complete opposite of me - short, broke and female. Thus clearing me of any possible danger as represented in Figure 1.

On trip one we ventured to the Noble Park Salvation Army at 400 Princes Highway. Now I don't know if it's just me or it seems as though the quantity of guy's clothing in this store in on the decrease. Sure they've tried a bit of a Godfreys Vacuum guy-esque comb-over by shuffling it around a little, but i'm not convinced.

Nevertheless - there was quality to be found. This shirt seems to have the ladies flocking -

On trip two we visited the Dandenong Savers - which once again seem to be pretty packed (by op-shop standards), probably something to do with uni holidays; a bunch of scraggly wanna-be hippies trawling through the clothes pulling out precious velvet right in front of me...(mild exaggeration). I was actually pleasantly surprised with my findings, some of these ties are the type i've been searching for ages, but lovely ex-girlfriends and her op-shopping puppets/cronies having been beating me to it... that and the people at Secret Men's Business.

I also got a shirt.. which looked so much better in the shop and was sooo much more expensive that i realised; $9.95!

Ah well, it's got press-studs and the mostly polyester fabric does have a habit of collecting static electricity.. with any luck I'll be able to connect it up to the grid and sell electricity back to TXU or whoever. Green electricity powered by recycled clothing ... what would Andy say?

There was also a short stop at the nearby Salvos - nothing much to be had there. Gosh, its guy's clothing range is pathetic (this should no longer surprise me). It does have an interesting range of odd kitchen knick-knacks though ... probably worth checking out some time when I want to kit my place out in cool looking, if slightly functionality-challenged corkscrews.

International Op-Shopper of Mystery

2007-10-11T00:35:00.000+10:00

Not so long ago I had the pleasure of jetting off to the UK for a couple of weeks, naturally any such trip could only involve the most opportunistic of op-shopping... fortunately for me, I had no trouble adjusting my finely tuned op-shopping antennas to suit the new environment... it was made very easy for me, because as you will soon discover, all op-shops in the UK are actually run by the single giant secret society based op-shopping mega corporation with an easily identifiable trait.

Why would anyone who doesn't subscribe to any publication with the words "socialist" or "how to kill capitalist pig dogs" in the name think such as thing? Well ... all it takes is a big of logical thinking ... remember back to when you were a kid and Pizza Hut actually existed as a family restaurant and not some pizza based ATM? .. and remember how there was always a KFC right next store ... and they both only sold Pepsi, but you really wanted Coke? Well, whilst my research has been less than exhaustive, I can conclusively state that either one was stalking the other or that they were both owned by the same mega-corporation... "Where am I going with this?" you're thinking .. well as it turns out, in two small towns I visited I found that both contained *the same* type of clustering of shops, but rather than fast food, it was op-shops; Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children and others all located within 100m of each other; a dead give-away that the op-shops must be under the control of the same mega-corporation. meh... of course this is fantastic if your travel companion gives you 1 minute to scour through each of them... so what did I find in my 1 minute ...

oh .. of course .. velvet jackets ... they were about $15 each ...

I think in my hast I may have thrown my usual discriminating taste out the window ... 'cos looking at them now ... they're odd... they don't fit well ... they're an odd cut ... and one of the measurements on them is "bust size" ... now, I'm really not sure what my bust size is ... no one's really ever had the gall to ask me (such is the imposing figure I cut) .. but I'm pretty sure that if I had one, it wouldn't be the same as these jackets... and I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't call it a "bust size".

So perhaps I need to start rationalising my velvet jacket collection ...

anyway, lest I dwell too long .. I also made my way to Oxford; the birthplace of Oxfam. The Oxfam on Banbury Road was the only one I got to ... it was pretty up-market and seemed to have only really high quality goods available, so it's not really the place you'd go to find some treasure hidden around the back of a 7 foot high pile of Kamal Christmas records... it's quite popular too, with people trying to get at the goods from as early as 3am :)

I think I saw a suit for about $130 dollars there ... yikes! The pricing also put that Bowler hat slight out of my reach..

The Replacements

2007-08-07T00:46:00.000+10:00

Surely it's the engineer in me, but sometimes clothes aren't updated with something more fashionable, more in vogue, more velvety, but merely just replaced with that something that looks pretty much the same and serves the same functional purpose. I must have owned about 5 blue woolen jumpers over the last few years .. just replacing it each time that it becomes something that only a housemate of mine would wear.

Anyway, I've needed to replace a jacket of mine .. i didn't want to .. but the holes on the elbows were becoming a little bit more than designer tears.

So I returned to that bountiful hunting ground of Brunswick and came up with exactly what i had been after. I had been wondering if I'd just give up on op-shops, sure they're great for that fortuitous find, but if you really need a specific piece of clothing, they can be a lot more effort than they're worth, especially if you're like me and leave it until it's pretty much too late. But for once i managed to some how circumvent the entire run-around process and find what i was after.

So here it is in all its utilitarian glory.

I got it from a Brotherhood of St Lawrence on 132 Barkly St, Brunswick. It cost $15, which was not too shabby, given that it's pretty much brand new. This place has a pretty good range of books too, so if you're the reading type, i'd check it out ... of course there's only so much one can do with 5 copies of Peter Wright's "Spy Catcher".

I also picked up a few ties from the Salvation Army Family Store on Sydney Road - who seem to have taken their pricing policy straight from the jewelery industry; tag items as double a reasonable price and then offer half price. I think they ended up being about $2 each ...

A few days earlier I got a brand new shirt from Salvation Army Family Store, Princes Hwy Noble Park. It might have had a few issues button wise, but nothing that couldn't be sorted (although not by my butchering hands). Again, half price; so I believe it was $3.50. The bow tie was found at Brotherhood of St Lawrence Auburn St, Hawthorn. It was $5, probably worth it seeing that they cost an exorbitant amount to hire.

Finally, also from Salvation Army Family Store on Sydney Road, I was able to find this blue checked shirt, in a sort of a cowboy motif. This place had a few good genuine 70's vintage shirts, the other's weren't quite what i was after, but I was still impressed. As for my shirt, I got some new buttons for it, to make them look a little bit more like press studs. Thanks should go to a talented friend for sewing them on in less than the 3 weeks it would have taken me. The shirt cost $3.75 and if i'm not mistaken, the buttons cost more.

More velvet...

2007-07-22T14:40:00.000+10:00

Yeah so I've been disappointed with the op-shop returns in the last few months, but here's a few of my finds.

Ages ago, I went to the Salvation Army op-shop up on Sydney Road, Brunswick. It's a reasonably sized store and at the time had a fair collection of guys clothes (although who knows what it's like now, seeing that some other Salvos store have started what looks like the phasing out of mens wear!). I'd been to a number of op-shops that day in and around Brunswick and so I didn't really expect much, but I came across this velvet jacket. I can't remember what I paid for it; so it much have been reasonable. I'm starting to reach a point with these jackets that I actually don't have enough occasions to wear them all. It's a sad state of affairs when a perfectly good jacket spends the majority of its time in my possession just hanging in the cupboard getting acquainted with the others.

Also in the photo is a tie I recently picked up from the Salvos in Abbottsford. It was priced at something like $6.40!! .. which is practically criminal for tie... fortunately it was 1/2 price for them that day, so it still wasn't a steal, but at least it wasn't criminal ... if you'll forgive the mix metaphors/cliches.

Continuing with the Salvos theme (it doesn't help that St. Vinnies closes at 2pm on Saturdays) - I found this velvet jacket .. ahem .. in the women's clothing section of the Salvos on Riversdale Rd, Camberwell. I spent a fair while staring into the mirror sussing out whether or not it was entirely obviously that it was women's clothing .. and (hopefully) obviously came to the conclusion that it was inconclusive. It cost $25.75 .. which is seemingly the standard price for most decent jackets at the Salvos these days.

I take my hat off to you sir...

2006-10-16T22:18:00.000+10:00

I'd been thinking about doing it for a while so last Saturday morning I went in search of a replace ment hat for the one that I lost earlier this year - the ladies lawn bowls hat named "Sara" (the hat's model name .. as opposed to the hat model's name!). So I formed a list of various lawn bowls stores and then figured that the only one I could be bothered driving to was in Heidelburg... so I drove up there and paid them a visit. I felt very conspicious in there, of course I was a fraud; I don't care about lawn bowls at all... well, other than the potential for a big a laugh and cheap pots of bad beer. I poked around and it didn't take me long to realise that my dream of seeing Sara again was fading further, I couldn't find the same style and those that were close were about $70 ... for that money it'd have to be perfect.. seeing I paid $12 for Sara. So I left, I probably only spent about 2 minutes in the store.. before I left I guessed that my stay might be quite short, so I'd made a not-particularly-comprehensive list of some op shops in the area.

Gah! Looking at it now, I was RIGHT next to an BOSL op-shop in Heidelburg.. perhaps more intensive research is required in the future .. ah well the address was:

Brotherhood Of St Laurence - Shop 40-44 Bell St (The Mall) Heidelberg West

Brotherhood of St. Laurence - 220 Upper Heidelberg Rd Ivanhoe

Parking was surprisingly easy to find for a Saturday morning, so I went into the store in good spirits. The store itself is pretty small, certainly not a op-shop megastore a la Salvos Noble Park in fact it was pretty quaint; I always get this homely vibe when I'm in an op-shop and someone else walks in and is greeted by name by one of the volunteers. Despite this "vibe", nothing really took my eye, there was a sprinkling guys stuff, a fair part of it was still in boxes on the ground, I didn't have the energy to rummage through them .. and then repack them.

Ok so the other one was a little out of the way, but... yeah.. I think it looked closer on the map..

MS Society - 88 Station St Fairfield

It was actually listed in the Yellow Pages as a BOSL .. but as it turned out - it wasn't (and the address was 88A to be particular about it .. although the Yellow Pages says "88C" .. bah Yellow Pages!).

This place was of a reasonable size and fairly well organised, at least the records were perusable without sitting on the ground. I think that my earlier failure to find a new "Sara" must have put me in the mood for hats ("hat goggles"?)... I spied a rather good looking one up on display with a few others (that were in themselves pretty good). Bugger $30 ... um ah .. um ah ... crud .. that's a lot for an op-shop hat, I've seen some for more at Camberwell Salvos, but they were something really special (and unfortunately a few sizes too small for me). The strange thing was that the place also had a nice looking, two piece light blue suit for $8! .... so it wasn't consistently expensive there.

I ended up getting it ... and I think I've got a touch of buyer's remorse, it's one of those hats that makes a very particular statement (it makes me look like a new romantics extra from Ferris Bueller's Day Off).. so I probably won't get to wear it that often... it's cool, but probably not $30 worth of cool... oh well.. perhaps it needs a feather in it or something.

Broken by Ballarat

2006-10-01T13:45:00.000+10:00

I recently went on a trip to Ballarat, not a place I'd usually go to, but I was there never-the-less. Naturally I planned a visit to the op-shops of the town along with the more formal duties I had to carry out.

I checked out yellowpages.com.au to find what was on
offer.

Baptist Bargain Centre
10 Eastwood St Ballarat

RSPCA Opportunity Shop
40 Main Rd Ballarat

St Vincent De Paul Society
216 Mair St Ballarat

Decades of Fashion
13 Main St Ballarat

De's Recycled Fashions
202 South St Ballarat

Wozzle's Warehouse
11 Grenville St South, Ballarat

It's a fair list, with one notable absentee - The Salvos! .. I had to search hard for this one, I never know quite what to search for to find it. I eventually went to the Salvos website and scoured their list of Family Stores - there's 3 in Bendigo!! ... but from the list it appears that Ballarat is strangely unrepresented. Perhaps they got run out of town? As it turns out Bakery Hill is a suburb of Ballarat, I only found this out through perseverance inspired by my refusal to accept the claim that Ballarat couldn't have a store.

So add to the list

Salvation Army
Cnr Humffray and Victoria St, Ballarat (Bakery Hill)

So I left on Saturday morning, the traffic was terrible - probably mostly people out picking up a slab and some snags for an AFL Grand Final BBQ. So I was stuck in traffic in Flemington, the type of traffic that changes people into rabid dogs... and I spotted to my right a Salvos, one I hadn't visited before. I had left a little late so I was hesistant to make a visit, but the sight of the traffic ahead of me convinced me that I should pull over into the oh so conveniently placed carpark space to my left.

I stepped in and was greeted by an unusual sight, men's clothing, normally placed in the back - it was a little like walking into the ground floor of a department store and not being hit by an all immersing wall of perfume (I love that Mr Bean sketch!). As it turned out, the store actually had two shop fronts, so there was an entire room of women's clothing. I went through the guy's stuff; well it wasn't all complete rubbish, just nothing grabbed my eye. They had some alrightish t-shirts, but I've got a policy of not buying Target/K-mart brands from op-shops, it hardly seems worth it. I found the ties ... I have never seen more ties in my entire life, unfortunately they had just been stuffed into 3 wire-frame containers - making perusal a nightmare. They were mostly silky ones, not my style .. and I've got enough ties that I don't really wear without wanting to add more. Still, the number of ties was quite impressive, if only they could display/store them in a more orderly fashion! But if I ever need enough ties to allow for a Rapunzel like escape from the 40th storey of a building .. then I'll know where to go - Salvation Army: 1264 Racecourse Rd Flemington.

I left empty-handed, but the break from driving made it worthwhile..

So I made it to Ballarat, with plenty of time to check out the op-shops, I had even taking the step of printing out the location map from yellowpages.com.au to make finding them easier. I found the first one, the Salvos by accident really. I was just trying to drive into the town centre and then find start from there, but once again, there was a Salvos right across the road.
So I parked and stepped in. It's a pretty neat affair - things are nicely sorted and all. Once again I met with the curse of the "nice shirt, 3 sizes to big" .. i would have been cool, but I'm not planning on filling out an XL any time soon. I was looking through the guy's stuff and another, presumably local, op-shopper struck up a conversation with me - "That's the great thing about op-shopping in Ballarat", he said; "the bogans don't know what good clothing is.". At this point I was a little confused, because without wishing to cast judgement on the man, he was wearing acid washed jeans and a particularly, well "bogan-like" hoodie. Perhaps he was incognito. He seemed to be a bit of a pro though, claiming he had bought a $6 pair of shoes from Wozzle's Warehouse and sold them on Ebay for $1000 .. hmm.. hmm.. anyway, he didn't see much of interest in the store, lamenting that "someone must have beaten us to it"... probably. Again it was a place of potential, I tried on a light gun metal blue suit jacket, unfortunately it was too big. In times gone by I would have probably bought it, but now I'm a little more discerning when it comes to sizes; I've got a few jackets at home that I don't wear because they are a little ill-fitting. I went through their records, which I always find a bit of a chore, but I found a cover that looked pretty good -

I also found the EMI slogan on the back quite amusing, clearly the directive "think outside the square" was not used when they came up with this -

Anyway. So the record cost me $1 - the cashier looked at me strangely, as though I couldn't actually have a practical use from some cruddy old record... let's just hope I do.

Well that was all very painless, I'd found my first op-shop without even consulting a map! I thought I'd next check out this Wozzle's Warehouse place and see if I could find myself a $6 pair of shoes.

I drove into the city centre .. found parked a started to walk to where the map said it was... except.. there it a Rebel Sport store there... and it was the wrong address. Hmm.. I knew this place existed.. but I walked up and down Grenville St and Sturt St and couldn't see it. Bah! Eventually I found it .. around the back of some shops that were separated from Grenville St by a large mound and a carpark.. by the time I got there it was closed. The word "warehouse" usually conjures up images of a large building with near-infinite stock. From my "face against the glass" perspective, this place certainly was not that, but I would have liked to checked it out.

It was about then that I began to realise that there was a fair chance that most op-shops would be closing soon. It was also about then that my day started to go downhill...

Sometimes it really heaps to have a navigator, I think today would not have been one of those occasions. Given the impossibility of finding Wozzle's Warehouse from yellowpages.com.au's stupid useless map location I think the whole task would have been doomed to failure and more than likely the navigator and I would have had a serious falling out.

That aside, I thought that I'd go onto the RSPCA Opportunity Shop - 40 Main Rd my thinking being that charity run stores run by volunteers would be more likely to close early than those private secondhand stores who are only in search of the almighty dollar.

Ballarat is pretty small, it's not tiny, but it's not huge. The probably with small towns is that it makes navigating that little bit harder, because you don't have time to think - A to B is only a couple of streets away, but unless you see B coming, before you know it you're halfway back to Melbourne. To make things worse, Ballarat likes to pretend that it is a big city by having traffic lights with ridiculously long sequences.. so in my air-conditioner-less car, things started to get a little frustrating.

After many a wrong turn and exploring more of Ballarat than I would have preferred I found the RSPCA Opportunity Shop. It's a pretty disorganised place, but it's got a fair ammount of stock, just not whole lot of guy's stuff, just a few shirt and coats, that's about it. I usually go through the records when I haven't found anything else to get.. and this was one of those occasions. Once I again I stumbled across in-joke gold! (or FOLD! as the case may be) - a Rolf Harrison record. The lady asked if I had checked to make sure it was the right one inside, I wasn't concerned with such things! It's all about the cover.

So here's the glory of Rofl.. ah I mean Rolf.. for a measley $1

I also found an alright tie .. also $1, I just hope that I get invited to enough 70's themed parties to get a chance to wear it.

From there I attempted to go the St Vincent De Paul's - 216 Mair St except .... it wasn't there - at least I could find the address reasonably quickly - I only had to make one screetching u-turn, but there was no St Vinnie's in sight... i was getting used to this type of stuff... obviously they signed up for a 5 year ad in the yellow pages or something.

By this stage I was losing my sense of enthusiasm - I thought I'd make an attempt to find the Baptist Bargain Centre - 10 Eastwood St. I found it alright.. It was closed, the depressing thing was that I'd already driven past it twice on my oh-so-fun driving adventures. I had a look through the window ... couldn't see any velvet jackets.

So I went a bought some cheap mexican beer and lemons and watched the AFL Grand Final inside a trailer at a caravan park. I am all class.

Tie obsession

2006-09-24T23:49:00.000+10:00

While I'm in the mood for updates - I scored this tie from the Dandenong Savers (210 Lonsdale St Dandenong) a few weeks ago. It's fairly outlandish.... it cost $3 which isn't too bad for Savers... and $3/week is a pretty cheap addiction anyway. It was pretty filthy when I got it, someone obviously landed their dinner on it at some stage, but a little handwashing fixed that. It's always good when a punt comes off ... instead of being stuck with a $3 rag...

The importance of being nerdy

2006-09-24T22:17:00.000+10:00

About a week ago I went dressed as a nerd to a so-called "halloween" party hosted by a bunch of americans. Obviously the american interpretation of halloween differs slightly from the typical understanding held by most australians...that you need to be dressed up as something scarey and go around door to door threatening innocent people with vandalism unless they meet your outrageous demands. Notwithstanding the fact that halloween is held in october .. not september.

Anyway, so I'd dressed up as a nerd before, a simple trip to the op-shop... easily done... you'd think.

I was in need of a few crucial items - a bad tie, an ill-fitting cardigan and some thick rimmed glasses.

So I went down to the Salvos in North Richmond (cnr Lennox & Garfield Sts Richmond).

I hunted around for a while, had a rummage through their "big-pile-o" glasses - plenty of pairs that would permanently ruin my eyes, but nothing that screamed out "NERD!". Cardigans? well $10 for a cardigan ... sif! In my desperation I even hunted through the women's section, hoping for a cardigan that wasn't pink and fluffy, to no avail. Ties, well - I must admit to getting a little sidetracked here.. I got myself a non-nerdy tie, $5.50 .. still too expensive, but IT'S A TIE!!!! All the time I was there the in shop radio was blasting out some very typical op-shop radio station playing "How Great Thou Art" .. sung "majestically, with awe".

So really I left there empty handed - I had to look nerdy by nightfall and things weren't looking so good.

I then went around the corner to the Abbotsford salvos - 81 Victoria Crs Abbotsford. Immediately I was greeted by the sight of a velvet-ish jacket (ok so it was very fine corduroy..) Score! who cares if they wanted $35 for it.. I tried it on, bah it was too big .. unwearably too big... even I have limits. Abbotsford salvos has a big selection of ties, it even looks like they gone to the effort of picking up the piles of ties that inevitably slip to the ground. I managed to score myself a sufficiently nerdy tie, sort of pink, grey and white diagonal stripes.. I'm sure they wore that at NASA in the 50's. Glasses though... they only had cruddy new sunglasses going at $20 each - seriously who buys sunglasses from an op-shop for $20? You'd pay less at a chemist and you'd have a higher chance that the lenses weren't made from tinted cling wrap.

So I headed back home, thinking that I'd try camberwell salvos, the st vinnies down the road and that other strange place - EPIC Treasure Trove 109 Auburn Rd Hawthorn) that I have no idea where they send their proceeds.

Strangely enough that was the first place I visited, mostly because it contains mostly rubbish. I had a poke through the collection mens wear on offer looking for that cardigan still.. nothing going. In the back of my mind I know that one day I will find an absolute bargain in this place, no-one goes there, a velvet jacket could sit on the rack for 6 months and I'd still be the first one to it. They also have no sense of yuppie op-shop economy, probably because it's too povo for pseudo-trendy people to shop at who generally inflate the price of everything. I asked about their selection of glasses, they pulled out exactly what I wanted to see - a big unsorted box of really bad glasses. The old man working there was a little confused as to why I would want any of them, almost discouraging me ... it was as though they had a competition going between the staff there to see how many days they can go without making a sale. So in that pile I ended up finding some particularly nerdy glasses, made even better by the fact that they didn't have lenses.

Feeling pretty impressed I had a look at the records, and found an absolute pearler of a Tom Jones record - a Chinese print no less, that translates the words of "Sugar, Sugar" as "Sugar, sugar you're my kin call and you've got me wanting you." My interest in Tom Jones records is based soley upon a running joke I have with a friend, whose name is Tom Jones .... and yes it is still funny for me...and that's all that counts. It was a present for him.

The combined cost of my glasses and record - $1 .. now that's op-shop prices .. I paid with a $20 note.

I still didn't have a cardigan, but after going home and trialling my costume I came to conclusion that it would be nice, but not essential.

I went down the St. Vinnies (254 Auburn Rd Hawthorn) anyway.. dressed in my costume, also hoping that I'd find a sufficiently cool bowling hat.. good hats have been at quite a premium lately. The elderly gentleman working there had the coolest accent.. a very mild Irish or possibly Welsh accent... there's only so much small talk you can make.. I had a look at the various suits on offer, thinking that something with elbow patches might really add to the look .. but at $35 i'd really want to get more than one wear out of it..

I went onto Camberwell Salvos (7 Bowen St Camberwell), really not much going there either .. I had my costume pretty much finalised either way.. I really didn't need anything more - I just liked walking around Camberwell looking odd.

In the end I got a cardigan from my housemate - it was sufficiently nerdy, although I'm not so sure that he's aware of that...

That's it for now...

2006-05-28T10:15:00.000+10:00

Well short lived as it may be, I think that's probably it for this blog - it would have been better for it if I hadn't found a velvet jacket so soon, but oh well... if I get inspired I might continue to add in reviews of op-shops, particularly if there's some new one I stumble across, but for now I'm putting this thing into hibernation.

I don't believe it!!!!

2006-05-06T14:24:00.000+10:00

So there I was going through the motions .. wondering what in the world I was going to put into my next blog entry with seemingly little on offer. I had gone to the Salvos on Victoria St next to North Richmond station and found a few things but they didn't really fit or I couldn't actually ever see myself wearing them, so then I decided to go the Salvos in Abbotsford, just a few blocks up - it was crowded as anything and I really didn't expect to see anything worthwhile, esspecially given that I could see some of the same people from the North Richmond store there, which is usually a pretty bad sign ( the vultures! :) ). I had a look through, just hoping but not really expecting - I turned the corner on the rake of suits and THERE IT WAS!!! surely it was a mirage ! A BLUE VELVET JACKET!!! I could not believe it .... and still can't ..... a blue velvet jacket for $35 ! ... There was never any doubt that I was going to get it ... I figured I would just give it away if it didn't fit me ... but no ... it fits .... probably better than my other blue velvet jacket .... But what was going on?? Surely no-one in their right mind would pass up such a fine offering ... the place was packed! ... I rushed to the counter and bought it, only vaguely looking at what else they had ... the lovely assistant saying what a lovely jacket it was ... I was still flabbergasted ... by the jacket ... it almost seemed like fate ... like somehow creating this blog had put this jacket there and kept other people from buying it ... the only question is now ... have I found what I am looking for ?? Probably ... but that doesn't mean that I don't want more.

So I conclude with a most relevant Bible passage (ok, I admit that God probably doesn't care about my velvet jacket ... but that doesn't mean that I can't thank him for it)

Psalm 118:24 - "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

I'll add some photos once my camera recharges ..

Time to grow 3 inches and 20 kilos

2006-04-29T22:01:00.000+10:00

... well that's what I need to do if I want to get that nice shirt down at St. Vinnie's Auburn Rd - ah well. That reminds me - I wonder if I now fit that suit I bought in Adelaide about 2 years ago with the resolution that I would lose the weight required to be able wear it! I also remember passing on a pair of velour pant 'cos they were too small, in fact they were given to me by someone doing the same ... the cycle continues.

Getting down in The 'Nong

2006-04-22T17:23:00.000+10:00

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.

The Value of Things

2006-04-22T13:25:00.000+10:00

Well I've come to the conclusion that if you don't have a blog then, simply put, you aren't very interesting and couldn't possibly make any meaningful contribution to society.

With this in mind I thought that I'd start keeping a journal of my never-ending op-shop search for more velvet jackets (and whatever else I can find along the way).

You may be thinking "But I know Peter! Surely he can't be this shallow!". Well I'm afraid dear friend that you are wrong... I am. Vanity runs deep in my veins; any reflective surface I pass is a potential mirror in which I can parade my jackets, even if only for myself... so there.

It was a beautiful Spring day not little more than 18 months ago when I (with my co-conspirator) stumbled across op-shop paydirt - a velvet jacket ... in fact a men's velvet jacket, meaning I could wear it without being overly conscious of frilly lacy bits. The location was Angaston; a small town in South Australia's Barossa Valley. Henceforth it has been known as the promised land for op-shoppers; being with little more than one main street it hosts 4 op-shops/recycled clothing outlets AND a pub with good food and Cooper's Pale on tap AND a gourmet cheese store AND more dried fruit than you could ever poke a stick at (if that your type of thing, stick poking that is) AND it's about a 5 minute drive to the Yalumba winery.

Finding this jacket lit a fire inside me, a burning passion, nay, a near holy quest to acquire more of them. I hadn't been in the op-shopping game for too long, perhaps not entirely appreciating the magnitude of my find at the time. Surely if Angaston has velvet jackets, then the op-shops in major cities will be littered with them, they'd be giving them away... "I'll throw in a couple of these..." they'd say, leading to much insincere protesting.

I returned to Angaston later that year, at Christmas and came across more velvet jackets, two navy blue ones... But I was young and foolish and only bought one. What was I going to do with TWO navy blue velvet jackets anyway? (and my brown one) It was a hard lesson to learn. "Seize the day" - that is what your attitude should be when pondering over an op-shop purchase. If you don't get it then some other bastard will and they'll probably sell it at some fancy piece-of-crap recycled clothing store (aka Secret Men's Business on Auburn Rd) for $350, rather than the $25 you can buy it for RIGHT NOW!

Anyway I digress... Today I am older, wiser, slightly richer and more wrinkled, but more importantly - I appreciate "The value of things".

The sober truth is that velvet jackets are hard to come by in the op-shopping world, there are many things that conspire against you: lack of dedication, lack of personal profit motive, morals, the fact that they only turn up in op-shops following the death of the previous owner etc etc. So, sometimes you just have to take what you can get. Hence the scope of this journal will include other things, obviously not as important as velvet jackets... but worthy of a passing mention.

Peter

ps. I am aware that some people will attempt to gleam velvet jacket related intelligence material from this journal in the hope of securing one for themselves, Please be aware that I ALWAYS confront ANYBODY I see wearing a velvet jacket and wil repeatedly "question" them until they crack. So you won't be able to get away with it...

pps. Corduroy doesn't count.