What I Learnt When I Went Op Shopping

I’ve seen so many people wearing amazing things only to be told they found it at an op shop.

Op shopping isn’t a new phenomenon but I’ve never done it. I’ve always just gone to the stores I know work for me, usually in a shopping centre where I can browse many shops in one spot.

I’m also time poor. I have two kids, work part time and run my styling business so hopping in the car and driving around to a few op shops and then browsing through the multitude of racks of clothing was always a bit of a turn off.

But, I found myself with a spare few hours so off I went op shopping. It was an interesting experience and I thought I’d share how it went, what I learnt as well as some tips.

MY OP SHOPPING TIPS

1.       Do your research. Find out where the best op shops are. I mean it’s all opinion based but definitely go to the ones with better reviews. There are plenty of them so you could even just choose to head to the ones local to you or you could write a list of all of them and go on an op shopping tour over a few weeks.

2.       Don’t be rushed. There are so many pieces of clothing. Racks of it and you need to have time to go through it all. It is often organised into types like jackets or pants and by size which makes it easier, but you’ll still need to allocate more time to browse than in other stores.

3.       Try it on. Yes it’s probably cheaper but that doesn’t mean you buy it all and try it on later, only to not like it and be left with something you’ll never wear.

4.       Wash before wear. I’ve heard stories about people getting a reaction to the clothes they bought from an op shop. It could be the washing detergent someone else used or dust mites from sitting in someone’s house for ages before they donated it. You can’t expect people to wash it before donating or the op shop to wash it, so just do it yourself just in case.

5.       There’s also jewellery, homewares and furniture at op shops. You can find some really eclectic and beautiful things.

WHAT I LEARNT

Op shopping is not for me. It’s too time consuming and too unpredictable. I went to three op shops and found one thing. I spent over 2 hours driving and browsing. I tried on three things in the first op shop after spending a good 30 minutes browsing, getting one blazer. Then the other two op shops I went to, I browsed for a while and found nothing I even wanted to try on. I did end up buying a really cool canvas that will look great hanging in my future walk in wardrobe. I would have paid way more than the asking price, just showing that op shopping is usually a bargain and you never know what you’ll get, or not get.

Perhaps if I go op shopping again I’ll have more luck. I just need to find another spare few hours.