Stakeout: Richmond Salvation Army Store

The word on the street is that when it comes to inner city Salvos stores, the cool stuff is sent straight to Abbotsford, while the more practical/contemporary stuff and the merch that is donated directly by clothing labels goes to Richmond Salvos (located in Victoria Street, you can’t miss it…if you hit Hunchbax, you’ve gone too far, go back before it’s too late etc).

The two stores only a few minutes walk (or tram ride, if you’re real lazy-like) apart, so if you’re checking out one it’s certainly worth having a rubber neck at the other. Especially because the aforementioned piece of Olde Oppe Shopping Lore doesn’t appear to be entirely true.

Stakeout: Abbotsford Salvation Army Store

Can you believe I’d never been to this store? It’s one of the most well-known Melbourne op shops, the matching pair to the hep-cat St Kilda Salvos (I used to work right near this Salvos and had plenty of good loving from it, though it’s definitely a victim of its own success and gets picked over regularly etc etc).

Anyway, back to Abbotsford and a word on directions. When I looked up the Melways, it seemed like the most logical way to get to this store (it’s on Victoria Crescent) was to take a tram up Victoria Street to Church Street and then hang a leftie, then another leftie and follow the road, which curves around. This I did, and it worked fine, but on the way back I realised that it’s much faster to take the street before Church Street (as should be abundantly clear by now, I am a dunce when it comes to directions and maps).

On to the store. Well, well.

Jackie O Suddenly Looks More Like Jackie O

Whoa nelly, I know I’ve been posting about TV an awful lot lately, but this was such a remarkable and sudden transformation that I thought the reading public should be immediately informed.

What gives with the omnipresent Jackie O’s sudden 50s inspired makeover?

Know Your Vintage Periods: A Crash Course in Eras

Do you hear people bandy-about terms like ‘Georgian’, ‘Regency’, ‘Victorian’, ‘Edwardian’ etc and think ‘Am I going to look like a Grade-A boofhead if I admit that I have no fecking clue what you’re on about?’

Then this is the guide for you!

Stakeout: St Aidan’s Op Shop, Noble Park

In the same strip as the two ERMHA op shops is this single room clutterfest, which was devoid of staff for most of the time I was in there. It’s at 15-17 Buckley Street, Noble Park.

The clutter issue in this shop is more to do with layout than the actual amount of stock; there are two long rows of clothes on each side of the store (and another rack built into the wall on each side) with a significant space in the middle.

Most of the stock is clothing; there wasn’t any furniture and the stock of books/shoes/accessories was fairly sparse. There is a sizeable shelf of homewares at the back of the store, but you’ll mostly find functional kitchen stuff and a few cheap, flowery figurines and decorative pieces.

That said, I’d advise casting a careful eye over

Stakeout: ERMHA Op Shop(s), Noble Park

An op shop without clothes is a bit like a pub with no beer. Nonetheless, that’s what I saw today.

There I was, blithely wandering around the ERMHA (Eastern Region Mental Health Association) op shop at 13 Buckley St, Noble Park, thinking ‘Sheesh, that’s weird, there’s furniture and books but narry a stitch of clothing’ – and almost wandering into the ‘staff only’ section in search of it – when the penny dropped that another op shop a few doors down had eerily similar signage, and was full of clothes.

Ding.

Lessons From Antiques Roadshow and Bargain Hunt #2: Suspect the Expert

I came across a great stray piece of information the other day; an academic has written a paper on the power relations present in Antiques Roadshow, focusing on the way experts frame their questions to heighten their own authority and superiority in the exchange of information that occurs between expert and owner.

And now, when I watch such shows, I realise that this is true – often the wry expert will ask the hapless (often elderly, often rural) owner which country an item comes from, or when it dates from, when the item itself is providing false clues.

Example: earlier this week, a woman had two drinking vessels examined by one of the Roadshow’s experts. One had the typical white-and-blue glazed appearance of Eastern porcelain, as well as several traditional Chinese motifs (lotus flowers etc) painted on it.

The expert asked: ‘Do you know which country this comes from?’

Stakeout: Yooralla Bargain Shop, Carlton

This op, located at 135-136 Elgin Street Carlton, was canned in the Treasure Hunter’s Guide (THG) way back when in 2005. I can’t remember exactly what it said, but it was something along the lines of ‘you won’t find any treasure here’.

Now, I’m not sure if they just went on a bad day or matters have improved in the last three years (aside: do you sometimes refer to the THG and think – ‘hang on, this was written three years ago – can it be trusted?’ I do) but this op ain’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Outrage: Country Ladle Ad Insults Op Shoppers, Bakers and the Elderly

OK, the link between the latest ad for Country Ladle canned soup and the usual subject matter of this blog is tenuous at best. So this won’t be the most ‘useful’ post I’ve ever done. Nonetheless, it is an OUTRAGE, and as such should be addressed.

Now, for those of you who aren’t watching the Bargain Hunt/Antiques Roadshow Hour of Power and therefore may have missed this ad, here’s the lowdown. A woman (about 30) is on the phone to her mother. She says something like ‘Yes mum, I got your package. Thanks for the tea set, it’s getting a lot of use’ as the ad shows a bunch of small children playing with the tea set in the mud. She then says ‘oh, the scones are very popular’ as there’s a shot of some pigeons eating said scones. Then: ‘yes, thanks for the cardi, it’s a perfect fit’ as a shot of a hobo wearing a pink cardigan comes up. Blah blah blah…the point is that the only thing she actually likes is the country ladle soup, which she gleefully hoes into as the ad rolls on.

Innocuous enough, you might think. But what is the real message of this ad?

Aunty Detective: Removal of Stains From Vintage Handbags

Hooray, a question! From LM in Melbourne…

“i recently went to savers and the brotherhood of st.lawrence (both in footscray) and bought two bags- a plain brown sort of clutch/purse and what seems like a tiny snakeskin bag, to a total of $5. however, when i got home i saw that the plain brown bag had this extra mint gum patch stuck to the black lining and that the snakeskin-esque bag had some sort of glue/tree sap looking thing stuck near the inside zipper. my question to you is how would i go about removing these without causing significant damage to the bags? i think it would be a great idea if you could give advice to others on how to remove stains and such on vintage clothing, bags etc. through a blog entry.”

Yeah. Stain removal’s a bitch.