Vinnies Deloraine – an opportunity shop run by the St Vincent de Paul Society, serves as a vital resource for our community. Located in the heart of Deloraine, this op shop offers a wide range of affordable, second-hand goods including clothing, furniture, and household items. The proceeds from sales support various charitable initiatives and programs aimed at assisting individuals and families in need. By repurposing donations, Vinnies Deloraine not only promotes sustainability but also provides essential aid to the community, making it a key player in local efforts to support those facing financial hardship. Here is my interview with Alison Gordon, the manager of the store.
Matt Taylor: So can we start with your name and this enterprise?
Alison Gordon: Yes, so my name’s Alison Gordon, and this is St. Vincent de Paul, so it’s a Catholic charity organisation that works all around Australia and the money goes to new housing. It goes to people in relief and it goes to people that have either medical issues, money issues housing issues furniture, everything like that.
So it is a very good organisation and I’m not Catholic. Which I did ask when they gave me the job – do I have to be Catholic? And they said, “No”!
Matt Taylor: Why did you start working here?
Alison Gordon: Funny enough, my mum always worked in an opportunity shop. For many, many years and I just thought it was a really interesting job. My mother gave me a love of China. I don’t have it, but I know a lot about it. And I know a lot about bric a brac and stuff like that.
And I just thought, “oh, it’d be an interesting job for a couple of days a week”. And ended up becoming the manager.
Matt Taylor: How long have you been doing the job?
Alison Gordon: A little over a year and a half now.
Matt Taylor: How many other people do you work with?
Alison Gordon: So I have 13 volunteers. And me.
Matt Taylor: What are some of the things that you appreciate about your team?
Alison Gordon: Oh gosh, that’s a very long list. Their dedication.
I think their respect for the people that come in here because there’s all walks of life coming here. They’re really hard workers. They’re very generous with their time. They work so well together. They make my job much easier. Oh gosh! Just a really good group of mostly women – but from all walks of life.
And they really are just a really great group.
Matt Taylor: What are some of the things that you look forward to doing as part of your job?
Alison Gordon: Playing with the toys. We all have to test the toys out. I do often get some of the girls to put some dress ups things on like masks and stuff like that And we do have quite a lot of fun like Terri and I put a cubby house together which was probably one of the funniest things we’ve ever done.
We were pretty much in fits of laughter outside – and by the time we put it together it sold! We could have just put it on the floor and it would have sold, but we put it together and that was very funny. So lots of good fun.
Matt Taylor: Have you had any other interesting or unusual things that have come in?
Alison Gordon: Yes, we’ve had a whip.
Had a couple of whips actually. Some that we can’t sell in store. We have had a measuring stick from the 1800s, which has got silver and it measures the height of the dresses. So, yes, and that was all engraved. Actually this morning we just sold some egg coddlers, which are very expensive and all sold within about an hour.
Matt Taylor: An egg coddler? What is that?
Alison Gordon: They’re ceramic with a lid on them and you put a broken egg in them, put them into boiling water and they cook inside them. It’s a very old fashioned way of doing sort of like a poached egg. But it’s all contained. And a single one. They’re Westminster China, so they’re expensive.
Probably worth about $40 each, so. We also got a a Toby Jug in, but a massive one. And that was Staffordshire, China. That was from the 1850s and it was worth about $400. It went into Launceston today. It’s the ugliest china. The girls here think it isn’t worth like $2 and I said it’s worth a lot of money!
Matt Taylor: So that’s where the background knowledge and interest comes in.
Alison Gordon: And the girls have learnt a lot – they really have. They’re probably sick of me telling them about things but if something comes in I think they should know. I’ve said to my area manager how to tell crystal from glass, from cut glass so that people know.
Because it might look expensive – but it’s not, it’s just cheap. Stuff that looks like cheap rubbish could be very expensive and this is what you need to do. Very simple, just a one page thing.
Matt Taylor: Can you talk about how you can tell some of the differences?
Alison Gordon: I’ve actually got my general information book for all the girls to look at.
Okay, how to identify types of crystal glass versus pressed glass. So, crystal is always heavier. Find a piece of glass that is comparable in size and then check the weight of it and you’ll know that that’s crystal. Also crystal has a high lead content whereas glass is just made from sand. So that’s what makes the difference.
Crystal can be thin and finely detailed, whereas just normal glass is generally thicker. Crystal edges are rounded, not severe, unless it’s a cut glass. Okay, so cut crystal is very different, but just crystal is normally very soft. Crystal is clear, whereas most glass is actually not.
Crystal is actually completely clear. Crystal sparkles. Also, it tings. It has a ring tone to it. And if that’s slightly dull, it normally means that there’s a crack or something like that with it or some damage to it. That’s about it, really.
Matt Taylor: That’s quite interesting.
Alison Gordon: You can also put it up against a fluorescent blue light and it will actually be a different colour. So that’s another one.
Matt Taylor: The material itself or the light going through the crystal?
Alison Gordon: Ah, the light going through the crystal will be different.
Matt Taylor: Do some of the products swap between stores?
Alison Gordon: Yes. So sometimes we have to do a grading system at the back. So we have A and B grade. And then rubbish. So we have A grade that goes into the shop. At the moment we’re still getting a lot of summer gear, which is no use being in the shop – so we send it to the warehouse in Devonport and that gets stored there until we can order it if we don’t have enough. So we can do that.
Other than that, we’ll A grade it and we’ll put it into buckets ready to go out. And then depending if it’s kids, adults, men’s, what we need, we’ll price it and put it out (in store). B grade goes back to the warehouse and that gets rechecked. It gets either done for rags, sent overseas, given to families that need it. B grade can’t be dirty, as in like filthy, but if it has marks on it that are not really suitable for the shop, then we send it. Or if it’s got threads missing, or buttons missing, or things like that, it goes back (to the warehouse), and they do try and reuse that again.
And then we just have rubbish.
Sometimes we have a lot of rubbish donated that we just open the bag and go “Nope,” and close it up. Which I did this morning. So, nappies – not a good idea (to donate)! So we all wear gloves when we’re checking donations. We’ve had people pee in the donation box. So the whole lot had to go to rubbish, we couldn’t even open it.
Oh yeah, we’ve had some interesting things.
Matt Taylor: Is there security cameras?
Alison Gordon: I’ve asked for security, because we’ve had a few issues. So there always has to be two people in the store, at least. So we can’t open the store without two people.
Matt Taylor: Trouble in store as well?
Alison Gordon: More outside.
People stealing things and then people stopping them, and someone actually drew a gun on someone. This was just before I started last year. Someone said, “You’re stealing from a charity,” and he goes, “So what?” and he pulled a gun on the storeperson. And then he put the gun away and pulled out something else, that he shouldn’t.
So yeah, we do have the odd instance.
Matt Taylor: Do you see much changing in the next few years?
Alison Gordon: I was talking to my area manager today and they’re really trying to look at other avenues of recycling. One of the biggest things is books.
So, we had so many books donated. And they’ve got to be A grade. So, if they’re not, if they’re written in or anything like that, or sometimes they have personal information in them, all sorts of things like that. They’re trying to organise to get them recycled or turned into pulp. But the biggest problem is the glue that’s used on the books.
If it’s made into pulp, it can’t be used because it contaminates everything. So they, you have to guillotine the books to only get the pages. So they are trying very hard to not do landfill with things like that and donate to other areas and things like that.
Matt Taylor: What’s your favourite spot in Deloraine?
Alison Gordon: Oh my gosh, there’s so many. Down by the river. I love walking there. And the dog park. I’m a dog person.
I have a 14 week old puppy at home, which is where I was when you got here. I love it. I love it. Going and letting him out. Dexter is his name. With my little three year old dog. I lost my two older ones. One was 18 and a half at Christmas and I lost my other one a week ago. She was 17 and a half. So, I have to go and let Dexter out for a wee and a poo.
But he goes out and then he goes, “It’s too cold out here. I’ll come inside and wee and poo.” So I’m loving it.
You can find Vinnies Deloraine at 54 Emu Bay Road, Deloraine
