Op shop review

**Rating are my own opinion and experiences. Some have been moderated as my friend's experience was different.**

Lifeline Emporium (Brisbane St, Ipswich)
This is one of the biggest op shops I have been in. There are two rooms at street level, plus three rooms in the basement. There is also a furniture store next door, which I haven't checked out yet. The downstairs "bargain basement" has some great deals, and fair quality clothing is priced at around $3-8. However, you unlikely to find any 'trendy' finds here anyway. All that is upstairs at a more costly price.

I have noticed that some of the prices are quite steep, considering they probably acquired the clothing through donations. They must be cashing in on the increase of traffic that seems to be occuring in these types of stores.

Price 111
Range1111½
Visit again? Yes, there always 'new' stock and something to buy.

St Vinnies (Brisbane St, Ipswich)
This store had some great finds a few months ago. Fur coats and caplets at very reasonable prices. When I went back there, all the groovy stuff was gone and it was replaced by some boring junk. I wonder if some store has bought them all and is selling them for a profit or they were bought for a production or simply moved because they were not selling. It is all a mystery to me.

Price 111
Range11
Visit again? Maybe, just to see if they have anything decent

Born Again Clothing (Brisbane St, Ipswich)
This is the store where I found my leather skirt. I paid $AU5. I have seen other skirts in much worse condition (mine is in excellent condition) for more. This store is run by Christians and there prices are always low. Generally around $3 for clothing.

Price 1111
Range11
Visit again? Maybe once in a while

Endos (West Ipswich)
I love this store. I didn't even know it was here until someone told me about it. It is in a large warehouse and it is kind of out of the way. Well, not exactly, as my friend Jane lives down the same road. There are racks and racks of clothes. It is very easy to pick up some cool labels.

Price 111½
Range1111
Visit again? Yes

St Vinnies (Stones Corner)
The smell of this store hit me before I reached the door. I really horrible body odourish snink. Yuk. They had a few nice things here. I nearly bought a navy floral dress but I decided I would rather not spend what they were asking for it. I did buy a pattern and a magazine. This store did not have any particular drawcards. I want to look at leather and denim and sunglases and bags. My friend Jane thought it was a good store when we went together.

Price 111
Range111
Visit again? If I am in the area anyway, I might pop in

PS It did not stink the second time I went there, so I am assumming they had a smelly customer!

Endos (Stones Corner)
This store had some great stuff. However, it was totally overpriced. The particular line of stores have "designer" secondhand clothes. I could have bought some really nice jackets and hats and even shoes but I could live without it in my wardrobe. Once again I was left wondering who exactly is going to pay that much for a fur coat. It was at the very least double the asking price of the coats in Ipswich.

Price 1½
Range1111
Visit again? Again if I am in the area

PS When I visited the second time, all their fur coats were half price.

Lifeline (Old Cleveland Rd, Stones Corner)

Price 111½
Range111½
Visit again? If in area

Aid for the Blind store (470 Ipswich Rd, Annerley)
This was the best of the stores in this street! It was the biggest in size and the prices were very good. They had a huge selection and it was nicely arranged. Clothes were sorted by garment and garments where sorted by colour.

Price 1111
Range1111
Visit again? Yes, I have been back and it was just as good as I remembered.

Lifeline (476 Ipswich Rd, Annerley)
The was the second best store in this area. It was smaller in size than the Aid for the Blind but it also had a lot of funky punk and retro clothes, boots and jewellary. This said, in my opinion the prices were a bit steep. (This may be a trend for all Lineline stores). I can appreciate that people are doing a lot more thrift shopping than before. However, charity stores have other functions. They provide affordable clothing to people who are not as 'well off.' They also raise money to help those same people through the sales of clothing and bric a brac. I don't know why someone who had $80 would spend it on a pair of worn boots when they could buy a new pair for this amount virtually. If they lowered their prices, sales would increase and they would have the money to help people out.

Price 1½
Range1111
Visit again? Yes

St Vinnies (Ipswich Rd, Annerley)
I didn't see anything I liked in this store. It was a pokey little place with very little to offer.

Price 11½
Range1½
Visit again? Maybe when I visit the other stores, since it is out of my way

Queensland Blind Association (Ipswich Rd, Annerley)
Maybe if I had dug around a little more, I might have found something that was cool but after a walk around, nothing caught my eye here.

Price 111
Range111
Visit again? When in area anyway

Adornments (141 Latrobe Tce, Paddington)
I am so in love with this place. When I get a teaching postion and earn some good money, I will come here and buy some jewellary and handbags. This is totally vintage and everything is in excellent condition at good prices. Many of the shops in this street are old houses and this is no exception. It hasn't been changed on the inside so there are all different rooms to enter. I was too scared to touch most of the lothes but there was so much beautiful jewellary I spent some time in there. I can only imagine that the owner buyers her stock from estate sales and the like.

Price 11
Range1111
Visit again? Yes and I will bring lots of money. Such funky stuff.

Hey Hey it's Yesterday ( 129 Latrobe Tce, Paddington)
They had a larger section for men than women and while there were a few pairs of shoes, none of them were all that cute. This shop has three rooms, one is filled with all sorts of junk, from ironing boards to knitting needles and children's toys.

Price 11
Range11
Visit again? If ever in area

Spare Room (Latrobe Tce, Paddington)
Another very interesting store on this street. I was captured by the vintage Singer on the pavement. There are all sorts of treasures inside, mostly that fall into the bric a brac category. All things old can be found: furniture, phones, teacups, war memrabilia etc. Very costly but very intriging.

Price 1½
Range111
Visit again? If in area

Lifeline Superstore (Jacarada Street, Ipwich East)
This is a fairly big warehouse just east of the main part of Ipswich. It has a large selection of furniture as well as clothes and nic nacs.

Price 111½
Range111
Visit again? Yes

Endos (Redbank Plains)
A great store to pick up bargains. I did not see anything clothing priced over $4, and there were some great bargains to be had for $2. There is always a large selection of shoes to choose from. I nearly bought some shoes - they fit but they seemed a little too dainty for my feet.

Price 1111
Range111
Visit again? Yes

PS this branch has closed for the time being, sad because I love the stuff that I bought there.

Red Shield (Goodna)
I was a little disappointed when I walked into this store. The fact that it looks like someone's garage was off putting. I checked out some of the clothing and while the prices were high, there didn't really seem to be any clothes worth buying. I did luck out in the book section. After much digging, I managed to assemble a small collection of old Vogue pattern magazines. I was going to buy just two, but upon discovering they were only 20 cents each, I bought the ten that I had found. I will use them for inspiration.

Price 11
Range11
Visit again? Probably not, though it is worth a look at the cheap magazines.

Salvation Army Family Store (Bundamba)
This is quite a large place, with plenty of furniture and new clothes. I thought it was funny that I saw some dresses made in a material that I was currently using to make a skirt! I will definitely go back there, at least in a year's time, to buy a wardrobe to paint up for storing my sewing supplies.

Price 11
Range11
Visit again? Yes, for the furniture.