World’s Biggest Garage Sale and Foodbank find perfect match with BMI Group

Two Brisbane charities have found the perfect home in a new Morningside development after a number of would-be tenants deferred the start of their leases due to COVID-19.

FOR the World’s Biggest Garage Sale chief executive Yasmin Grigaliunas “it’s a match made in heaven”.

The organisation which re-purposes unwanted goods to sell and donates profit to charity has moved into a 2500sq m space in the newly built BMI Group developed trade centre, The Depot, at Rivermakers business park in Morningside.

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Rivermakers business estate at Morningside has started construction of The Depot

BMI — which has two arms, property development and resource recovery — donated the vacant space to WBGS and also lent a 2400sq m building to food relief group Foodbank after a number of tenants requested to delay the start of their leases due to the coronavirus pandemic.

BMI’s John Curtis said they we are pleased to be able to contribute to the city’s COVID-19 response and equally impressed with the speed at which both Foodbank and World’s Biggest Garage Sale took up the offer to activate and use the space.

Ms Grigaliunas said the opportunity establish for the first time a permanent presence — until at least the end of the year — was too good to pass up, especially with vulnerable individuals and families needing help because of the looming COVID-19 recession.

The organisation which had its first garage sale in 2013 and kicked off the business in 2017 at a warehouse in Coopers Plains where they would hold sales.

Yasmin Grigaliunas and Wassim Sayegh at the World’s Biggest Garage Sale at the Rivermakers business park. Picture: AAP Image/Claudia Baxter

“Our operational model has been transformed and this will be our headquarters,” Ms Grigaliunas said.

“We are in the business of recovering resources and putting them back into the economy and we felt a really strong alignment around the resources recovery side of the BMI business,

“It’s almost like match made in heaven. We'd like to grow with the entire precinct and as we grow take on one of the larger warehouses.”

Foodbank food supply manager Bob McMillann and Michael Irvine from the BMI Group at the new warehouse.

A Foodbank spokeswoman said the organisation has been given Federal Government support to help meet the increased demand for food relief.

“To enable Foodbank QLD to work with additional product in a way that maintains social distancing, we needed an additional space to store product and pack Foodbank Hampers,” she said.

“These Foodbank hampers will then be distributed through a network of more than 250 Queensland charities across the state who will provide these hampers to Queenslanders in need.”

Construction on The Depot finished this week and the Caltex Service Station will open next week.