The recipient of the largest donation is the local hospital auxiliary, with more going to local schools, local institutions like the public library and historical society, as well as a large number of charities and community services including the SES, Angel Flight, the Men’s Shed, Food without Attitude and Jeans for Genes. 

With this record achievement due to start rolling out soon, it seems appropriate to look back on the hard work done by the volunteers to keep such a locally-involved concern ticking over.

Of course this is far from the first appearance the Op Shop has made in the Examiner. With the help of Land of the Beardies’ History House, it was discovered that an extensive report of the first years of the shop was documented in the September 16, 1953 edition.

From that article, comes the following:

“Mrs Blessing who resided in Glen Innes for many years and whose husband was mayor for a time, was one of the original founders of the Tea Room which was opened for the purpose of raising funds to help our overseas soldiers.”

This tea room was officially named the Wartime Tea Rooms and Comfort Fund and was opened on the southern side of the Town Hall in 1915 in a building designated by the then municipal council. It was, according to current Op Shop committee president Jill Newberry, a little tin shed of humble beginnings.

Two doors up on the north side of the Town Hall, according to an Examiner article of 1920, was a fruit and vegetable shop operated by Mr Le Dilly, a Frenchman who would insist on singing Le Marseillaise on stage at World War I concerts held at the hall.

The Wartime Tea Rooms ran for a total of 3.5 years and made a clear profit of over £3000, the approximate equivalent of over $6000. The organisation donated close to £425 to War Chest Days as well as donating incalculable numbers of knitted woollen socks for overseas soldiers. 

Mrs Blessing, in the article of 1953, attributed the initiation of the tea rooms to Meta Kemmis, daughter of Glen Innes vicar Canon Kemmis. For the 3.5 years of its operation the rooms did not miss opening a day. 

Like the Op Shop that it eventually transformed into, the tea rooms were run with strict business hours and enjoyed enormous success in the local community. The shop would open daily between 8am and 6pm and, towards the end of 1915, had enough volunteers to manage a fortnightly rotation with each lady undertaking management for a day.

The manageress for the day would open the store, organise volunteers, and be responsible for providing everything the tea rooms needed for the day including wait staff and kitchen hands.

(Today the Op Shop is open 5.5 days a week: 10am to 4pm on weekdays and 9am to 12pm on Saturdays.)

The tea rooms closed down after the end of the First World War and re-opened as the Patriotic Bargain Shop in 1941 at the back of Biddle’s Butchery (now Campbell’s Butchery), before moving to Ron Hoyles tyre shop where the ladies first began collecting second-hand clothes. 

Japan entered WW2 in 1942 and the ladies of the Pat Shop began weaving camouflage nets for overseas soldiers and recruiting boy scouts to collect goods for the shop. 

Following the end of the war in 1945, the Pat Shop continued to operate because the need for goods and funds was great in local charities and organisations. In 1947, the Ex Patriotic Bargain Shop became the local Opportunity Shop and the rest is history. 

Since then, the Op Shop has survived two world wars, regular premises relocations and destruction by fire in 1961, and has still continued to thrive.

Fast-forward to 2013 and Mrs Newberry said, “We have improved the shop as far as it can be improved and now it is a matter of continuing our service to the community.”

Today the local Op Shop operates from its Lang Street address off the southern end of Grey Street, and is run by approximately 45 hard-working volunteers aged 50-90 years old. 

“A lot of people say it is the cheapest place around to shop,” assistant secretary Valmae Burey said last week.

“We have people come from different towns to shop and a few regular travelling visitors.” 

“We’ve got a full-time job,” Mrs Newberry said, 

“And it is all thanks to the support of the local community. Without them, we would not function.”

From its humble beginnings in Grey Street, the Op Shop has expanded to include a large selection of second-hand clothes retail, a recently established pick-up and delivery service for furniture donations and an all new bridal and formal wear section.

“This is my baby,” said Mrs Newberry, 

“We have had 37 bridal and formal dresses graciously donated by All Things Wedding and can now fit and dress brides, mothers of the bride, bridesmaids, grooms and groomsmen, as well as debutants and formal functions.”

“Every year we get stronger,” Mrs Newberry added, “and it is all through community support.”

Without doubt the Op Shop has enjoyed a colourful history and, with the new $100,000 achievement added to its history books, the ladies are confident that the shop will continue to run with community support.

“I really enjoy it,” volunteer Elaine Smith said.

“All of us do, and all the proceeds stay in the community.”   

And with that community-centred focus, the ladies of the Op Shop plan to “keep on keeping on” well into the future.