Brand-spanking new; St John op shop is back!

BY JULIA WADE

7 Nov, 2022

The wait is over. After one year, six months and two weeks since closing, the doors of the much-anticipated brand-new St John Opportunity Shop officially opened to the public on Monday November 7. A ceremony with invited guests was held on the Sunday.

Jam-packed up to the store’s shiny architraves with all sorts of bargains, the mass of items generously donated by the community is testament that support for the beloved shop has not wavered despite the 18-month hiatus.

St John’s 35 dedicated volunteers are back in action and shop manager for the last six years, Frances Kennelly, says despite the long wait and many challenges causing a ‘few more grey hairs’ including Covid restrictions and building supply issues, ‘it has all come together well’.

“I am so pleased we have finally arrived at our destination, I’ve missed the social aspect of catching up with my lovely volunteers and of course the incredible community that is Mangawhai, whose generosity and kindness is unparalleled.” She says. “I love living among such wonderful people. I would sincerely like to thank Classic Homes for the lovely new store they have built for us.”

Besides working in a number of other St John stores, namely Kaiwaka, Glenfield and Kumeu where she formed some long-lasting friendships, over the last six months Frances has been accepting and storing donations in the shop’s containers. Once the new building was handed over to St John and the sorting area set up, Frances and her team of ‘wonderful volunteers’ took on the massive undertaking of emptying the containers, ferrying the donations into the shop before organising, separating and classifying the piles of bric-a-brac and mountains of clothing, which is still ongoing.

“The wonderful St John volunteers are the most hardworking, dedicated, loyal and amazing team one could ever have the pleasure to work alongside, I love my volunteers,” says Frances. “Without my team we could not support St John with its fundraising endeavours.”

With white freshly-painted walls surrounding a large shop floor with two generous changing rooms, spacious staffroom and easy-flowing zones for donation drop-off, sorting and storage, the contemporary facility is a far cry from the original store, a residential house dating back to the 1900s which had sat on the same plot of land for the last 100 years.

After closing in April 2021 and the removal and relocation of the old building – generously for free by Kaiwaka house removal company Repiles and Relocatables Ltd –St John staff, volunteers and op-shop lovers anticipated the new store would be ready for business only six months later in November the same year. However, due to a number of unforeseen setbacks with Covid typically topping the list, border restrictions, material supply issues, a heated construction market as well as weather delays and the unscrupulous theft of building supplies, the project’s completion date moved to mid-2022, and then further along until today.

First launched in 2010, sales from the St John Op Shop have helped raise enough money to construct Mangawhai’s St John station which opened in 2015 and continues to provide ongoing funding for the services day-to-day operations.

“The flow of funds from the shop is held locally and administered by our amazing St John Area Committee, all volunteers themselves as well,” Frances says. “Now that we are trading again, we can start to raise more funds to assist and support the community and other organisations. The latest initiative is helping Linking Hands to extend their services further into the community and we have other initiatives in the pipeline as well.”

Popular with locals and travellers alike, Frances says the success of the store is due to the large variety of goods for sale, incredible dedication of the volunteers, and friendly ambience, making the shop akin to a social hub.

“We’ve always had wonderful support and donations from the community and also from holiday-makers who bring us all sorts of items. It’s more like a drop-in centre really, a place to have a chat, a laugh or a shoulder to cry on… it’s a very caring and sharing place,” she says. “I hope everyone loves our new look store and we look forward to catching up with everyone for the proverbial ‘chin wag’ and laughs and to see all the new babies who have been born. Can't wait!”

“It’s more like a drop-in centre really, a place to have a chat, a laugh or a shoulder to cry on… it’s a very caring and sharing place.”

– Frances Kennelly

Pictured outside the new St John Op Shop building are, from left, St John retail area manager Raheda Ali, Op Shop manager Frances Kennelly and assistant manager Helen McGillivray. After a challenging 18 months, and a few extra grey hairs, Frances says it’s wonderful to finally be trading once again and supporting the community she loves. PHOTO/JULIA WADE