Are hipsters ruining op shops?
Opshop prices are on the rise – but are price tags aimed at retro-loving ‘‘hipsters’’ leaving the poor out in the cold? TESSMCCLURE reports.
In the queue at Habitat for Humanity’s ‘‘ReStore’’ on Waltham Rd, a woman is disputing prices at the till. ‘‘Can you just go over that again,’’ she asks. ‘‘I swear it couldn’t cost that much.’’
The shop assistant reads back over the receipt item for item: $15 for some shoes, a $20 dress, a vase and some crockery. The list quickly cracks the $50 mark, and the woman eventually sighs, pays up and moves on.
Op shops have long been the goto for students, beneficiaries on a budget and low income families.
Over the last few years though, the trend for retro clothing and ethical consumption has seen op shop prices shooting up, and those on low incomes say the stores are becoming unaffordable to those who need them most.
Frequent op shopper Tracy Taylor was brought up on thrift shop clothes and had done the same with her children, but said buying on a budget was getting harder.
‘‘It’s got beyond a joke – you used to be able to walk into an op shop with $10 and you could walk out with a couple of bags full, but now you walk in with $10 and you’re lucky to walk out with one top,’’ Taylor said.
She believed op shops were overrun by vintage lovers and bargain hunters who did not need to be there.
‘‘You’ve got people shopping at op shops who can afford to shop elsewhere – and they’re buying up large because they can afford it. But you’ve got people on a budget walking in there and having to walk out again.’’
At the Salvation Army in Addington, most clothes were priced about the $5 to $10 mark, but if you strayed into the ‘‘Ab Fab’’ section, you could find yourself forking out $45 for a dress.
Across town a new Habitat for Humanity ‘‘ReStore’’ looked higher – there, you could pay $40 for a cut-glass vase, $20 for a coat and $250 for a couch set.
Barry Harrison, 54, said on his invalid’s benefit, shopping at the local charity stores had become unaffordable.
He believed the price rise was partly stores trying to boost profits, partly retro-lovers who opshopped for fashion and could afford the higher prices.
‘‘Op-shopping has become very much in vogue recently,’’ he said. ‘‘There are people from Merivale now who have op-shopping morning teas, get together and make an outing of it – even if they could afford to be shopping at Ballantynes.
‘‘But at the other end, op shops are so upmarket now, they’ve become places where the genuine poor can’t afford to shop anymore.’’
Salvation Army Southern Division Family Store manager Robyn Tsukigawa said the Sallies were still ensuring its stores served those in need.
For those who could not afford the prices, the stores gave away donated items.
Tsukigawa said the Sallies’ South Island stores had given away 1700 free welfare packages of donated goods in the last year.
‘‘We’re doing it two ways really: we’re giving free welfare out of the shops and we’re funding a whole lot of other community outreaches.’’
Tsukigawa said price rises could be caused by rising rents and power costs at many of the South Island Stores. The stores were fully self-funded, and had to pay their own way as well as fundraising for the agency’s other social services.
‘‘Operating costs are huge and our family stores are not subsidised at all,’’ Tsukigawa said. ‘‘Some shops for years sold everything at around $1 to $2 but the cost of power and running the shops was too high.’’
Raising money for the Salvation Army’s community ministries was the stores’ primary purpose, and providing goods at bargain prices was a secondary priority, she said.
‘‘To help fund these services is the reason the family stores exist.’’
Harrison blamed the price rises on Trade Me creating a larger, more competitive market for second-hand goods.
Tsukigawa said staff had ‘‘definitely’’ become savvier at spotting items that could draw a higher price from vintage lovers – like Crown Lynn ceramics – and were starting to mark those up.
‘‘Our people do sometimes look up on Trade Me and see they’ve got a really good item and they put a high price on it – I don’t have a problem with that.’’
Student and keen vintage-buyer Phil Baker had been op-shopping for about 10 years.
‘‘I op shop because you could find a great bargain that’s awesome and that no-one else has,’’ he said. As for whether his generation’s enthusiasm for vintage was pushing up prices, Baker was not sure.
‘‘I don’t really worry about that – I probably buy about 20 things from the op shop a year, and there’s enough there for everyone.’’
He said buying second-hand helped shoppers to avoid sweatshop-made goods, and consume more ethically.
‘‘At least you’re not buying a new item that was made in questionable conditions overseas – and I also like that I can buy New Zealand-made things.’’
You used to be able to walk into an op shop with $10 and you could walk out with a couple of bags full, now you’re lucky to walk out with one top. Tracy Taylor