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 the porcelain and glassware on the left hand side of the shop; there were a few not-quite-quite vases, jugs and other interesting specimens which indicate that the odd gem could end up nestled among them.
The clothes were fairly typical, and so tightly packed that you’d grow some serious Madonna-style bicep muscles if you had to pry them apart on a regular basis. None of the merch I saw was terribly old; there were quite a few 80s items, two or three 70s dresses (one a very fine smoke-blue pussybow/pleated number - it would make me look like a sausage but if you can rock a high-neck and a boxy cut you’d dig it) and the odd bit of Fletcher Jones and tweed sticking out amongst the Suzanne Grae and Noni B.
I also saw a 50s magazine rack (plain brass) which was fairly cool, and a very reasonable $2.
Prices are quite good – most items seem to have a price written on the underside of their tags, and were in the $4 - $8 range.
In the end, I bought a faux-pearl necklace which had five large, different pastel-coloured frosted plastic flowers and three big clear frosted leaves. It’s an odd design. The colours and materials (and the somewhat odd usage of such tiny faux pearls) seem to suggest 50s, but I’ve never seen anything quite like it, so it could be later. It was $5.
As with the ERMHA shops, there’s nothing spectacular about this op, except that there doesn’t seem to be much interest in vintage stuff in the local area (the necklace was encrusted with dust), so competition isn’t fierce. Also, there are so many shops in the one street that, in terms of being visit-worthy, they punch above their individual weight.
Anyway, the atmosphere in independent op shops is always second to none, and seeing three so close together is something that Belongs In A Museum (thanks indie) – so they deserve to be supported.
Ever been out this way? What did you think? And does anyone have any other favourite independent op shops that they’d recommend?
May 13, 2008 at 2:24 pm
My favourite independent op shops are the Mentone Mordialloc Lions Shop in Main Street Mordialloc (lots of books and magazines) and the Keysborough Animal Shelter shop in Station Street Cheltenham (lots of clothes and linens).