The Good Opportunity Shop at the Mount turns 30

St Andrews op shop. L-R Noelene Shrimpton, Dawn Turner, Joan Knight and Feida Reid.

Despite being stuck in between a sex shop and a bar in its early days, St Andrews The Good Opportunity Shop at Mt Maunganui, has survived and is turning 30.

A few of the volunteers who were at the inception of the Op Shop are still manning the counter, selling donated clothing, beddings, toys and other memorabilia.

The founder of the St Andrews Op Shop Shirley Spragg, envisaged a classy second-hand shop where people were happy to enter and hopefully buy.

Those who are running it now are keeping up with that aspiration.

This is the third location for the Op Shop.

Freeda Reid remembers it well. She was one of the original members who worked at the Op Shop.

'It was initially set up opposite the Mount Maunganui Public Library on Mount Mauganui Road, 'says Freeda.

'The second shop we had was further down the road opposite the entrance to the wharf, with a sex shop on one side and a pub on the other.

'I remember the guy from the sex shop. He took us around to show us. I said to him, we are a bit old for this you know.

'The parking was bad around there because of the roundabout.

'The shop currently at St Andrews premises in Macville Road, behind the RSA, is ideal with lots of parking.”

Freeda says she's seen a lot of changes over the years

'There's Ftpos now,” she says.

'I've just served somebody for 50 cents with an Ftpos card. Some people just don't carry cash anymore.

'Now there's Op Shops all over the place as well and the things we are getting have also changed.

'There's a lot of beddings, a mixture of women, men's and children's clothing and lots of toys.

'There's a lot more people coming in as well.

'We also get a lot of rubbish.

'On Saturdays there are garage sales and what they don't sell will be dumped out here when the shops close.

'It's cheaper than taking it to the tip I guess.

'We are also seeing people coming in and buying from us, then you see them out at the market in Papamoa selling them.

'But fair enough they can do what they want with it, can't they.”

Dawn Turner has been with the Op Shop for 27 years.

She says she's got to know the people and there's a feeling of belonging to the community.

'I enjoy it because it's lovely company down here and Freeda my friend and I we might not see each other, but when we come to the shop we catch up on the news.”

Dawn says she has seen a lot of changes during her 27 years working at the Op Shop.

'What amuses me, when I first came here, we were in the main street and we had the sex shop on one side and a pub on the other and we were the religious shop in between,” says Dawn.

'A lot younger ones are coming through than there used to be.

'Op Shop seems to be the in thing for them these days.

'There's a lot of teens who come in now and they like the op shops because they seem to be going back to that old style again.

'And you know it's a bargain for some of them because they go to these modern places and they are paying over a hundred or so for things they get for three or four dollars here.

'We are also keeping up with the fashions because we get lovely cloths, only bought last year and some of them still got their prices on them and never been worn.

'Beautiful cloths and bed ware as well, there's not a mark on them.

'It's really good and a bargain for everyone.”

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