Fashion: Op Shopping on Holidays

Once a year we go have a 3 day holiday on the Gold Coast with some of our inner circle peeps. We stay in an apartment and the weekend revolves around the Gold Coast Airport running event. This year, we didn’t just stay for 3 days, we stayed for 7! It was awesome!

It was a great time of catching up with our dear friends Pete and Shell. It was relaxing and laid back: the kids played, the adults drank coffee, we walked on the beach, we ate simple dinners, we played board games, we crocheted, the boys watched State of Origin. Pretty ideal actually.

Being away for longer this year meant that we had time to do some more fun things on the coast. The boys went and played golf one day and then they said that Shell and I could have some time to do some shopping the next day. I was pretty excited! But, then Shell said she really wanted to look at some Op Shops. Hmm, this was not quite the kind of shopping I had in mind…

Shell looked up where to find op-shops and we headed out. We were not sure about what we would find, which is part of the appeal of op-shopping. We discussed some of our rules on the way and then armed with an open mind, we hit the stores. The first two stores were okay, but we weren’t quite sure where to find the other stores we had found on the net. We asked a local, one of the ladies who ran a Red Cross Op Shop,  she told us of a street just a short drive away where there were five or six stores all in a row {I am not going to be telling you where this is… I would like to keep this little shopping secret under my belt}.

Well.. it was fabulous! Oh my goodness! We found some AMAZING things!

It was such a great day. I bought jeans and shoes, scarves and dresses, home accessories and toys for the children. What a haul of quality items! Some items were brand new, some items were from known designers, some were such current fashion that it would have been a crime to leave them there. Miss Z was pretty chuffed to get a Baby Born doll and some clothes, I could have gone mad on funky home wares, but knew we had to get all our holiday stuff home as well – plus I had a budget. :0)

The coolest thing about op-shopping on holidays {or in any new place} is that you get to look at a whole new set of op-shops that collect donations from a whole new set of people. Op-shopping on the Gold Coast is brilliant because it would appear {from my one day of op-shopping} that Gold Coasters are fashionable and get rid of quality items.

We decided after about eight opshops that we needed some lunch. We headed to Harbour Town and enjoyed a quick lunch before looking for more bargains. It was funny to walk into Esprit and find a great t-shirt on sale for $9.95 {total bargain!}, which was more than the French designed trench dress I had bought before lunch!

Here are my fabulous finds…

Scarves are in abundance in op shops. Choose ones that you know will match with some of your things at home. These two cost me $3.50.

These are BRAND NEW Supersoft red loafers. They still had the Myer price tag on them – they were $119.95 – I paid $15.oo. Amazing!

This is a Tokito torquoise dress. Very flattering for my shape. Looked to be brand new. Great colour. I thought I could layer under it and it wouldn’t need ironing. This was $15.00.

This photo really doesn’t do justice to this dress… but my camera died half way through taking photos! This is a nearly black blue dress. It is a trench dress with fabulous tayloring and great button and trench detailing. Looks so fabulous on {esp when I get back into running!}. Can’t wait to pull this out in spring! It was $9.00.

These were some toys and accessories I picked up. The doll is actually a Baby Born doll, which Miss Z thinks is pretty cool, I found some tiny baby clothes for the doll as well. The teddy bear is the EXACT same bear that gets sent home for little adventures from Pre-prep – Miss Z was very excited to have her very own ‘Vanilla Bear’! All of these things came in under $15.

I found some $7.95 hot pink skinny jeans, which, we knew weren’t the greatest of quality, but being such a trend, we figured it was worth the risk. I have worn them once and they are already falling apart – boo hoo! There are risks when buying from an op-shop, but $7.95 is not too big a risk. I also snaffled up some red skinny jeans for Miss A – they were $5 and still had the original tags on them.

Mr Cool found a Ben Sherman shirt. We paid $17.50 for it, which sounds like a lot from an Op-shop, but, it was in such great condition, it was worth it. BabyCool happens to have a shirt ever so similar – they look so cute together!

Above is the haul I got from Harbour Town… An Esprit top and hoodie, new flashy Nike trainers and some very cute retro styled suede ankle boots.

Now, I am not usually one for gratuitously showing off my shopping. Really. I am not. But, everything in these pictures – EVERYTHING – came in well under $300. Can you believe it? That is 3 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 dresses, 2 scarves, 1 Baby Born Doll, 1 t-shirt, 1 hoodie, 1 teddy bear, 1 bowl…

Have you op-shopped lately?

Give me details… I need a fix!