'o' week op shop

"Opportunity Shops"

It was a case of seek and you shall find when St Paul's opened its doors to students during O Week for an Op Shop Extravaganza of biblical proportions.

The two day pop-up shop held inside the church had hundreds of items of clothes, bric-a-brac and accessories donated by members of St Paul's.

Rachel Bruns had the idea of holding an op shop day to tie with Orientation Week and increase St Paul's presence with the student population starting University, whilst raising much-needed funds for mentoring charitable organisation Brothers In Arms.

"It's a great way to help students set up their flats with some stuff you don't need. But no junk!"

"We want it to be a good old fashioned op shop, with prices at $1 and $2 and nothing over $5" Rachel said.

We met some of the students taking part in the bargain bonanza.

Janus, a sudent of Film, TV and Media, said he heard about the shop from someone on the street. "I always like to find cheap books" he said holding some worthy tomes by Botton and Fitzgerald.

It was impossible to miss Alex, holding a fuschia pink bird mask. A student of O'Rourke hostel, his floor colour is pink and he had to find "a trashy pink outfit to wear" and came away with the feathered delight paired with a ladies dressing gown and pink tights.

Ellie, a student of Health Science, came in because of a flier she'd received. She chose vintage red and silver lurex cardigans. "I like a nice sparkly cardi!" she laughed, delighted with her finds.

Volunteers Jasmine Pearson, Helen King, and Sharon Bekker (pictured) joined the team assisting Rachel with the extravaganza.

Their highlight was a group of four flatmates setting up a flat who bought a Playstation console for $5, took it home, and came back to report back that they'd plugged it in and they were so excited. "They were definitely my favourite customers!" said Jasmine on the Eftpos desk.

Helen King added that students commented on how cheap everything was and they kept coming back for more. One woman bought $50 of bedding!

Rachel enjoyed people feeling comfortable to "hang out for one and a half hours, just reading books."

Brothers In Arms is an organisation whereby young people are matched with at-risk teens to provide a role model and older 'brother' or 'sister'. Read more about how you can donate or get involved online at www.brothersinarms.co.nz or contact Dave: 09 524 7676 or 021 990 621 dave.bia@xtra.co.nz

Story and photos, Megan Robinson, 25 February 2010

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