Vinnies Warwick host fifth annual charity sale to give the gift this Christmas

With purse strings tightened across the nation, we’ve been forced to adapt to the financial constraints of the rising costs of living. See how op-shopping is taking over the fast lane of fashion here.

This year has brought with it a whirlwind of unpredicted societal changes, including the way we spend our money as the rising cost of living continues to twist the knife.

For the past five years beloved op-shop Vinnies Warwick has held their annual super sale, offering goods for no more than $2 in a bid to support those in the community experiencing homelessness, housing stress and poverty.

St Vincent’s De Paul Society Darling Downs and Southwest retail operations manager Adam Bruggermann said the annual drive comes during the regional op-shop’s busiest time of year for donations.

“Our busiest time for donations is the Christmas period, so it also helps to make space in our back rooms and our floor to be able to deal with the tsunami of donations that hit us, and they’ve hit us early this year,” he said.

All funds raised as part of the super sale will be recirculated into the community to those doing it tough and is not limited to housing services, with food parcels and packages, as well as clothing and furniture donated.

“Leading into Christmas we get inundated with requests for assistance with Christmas hampers, so (we work to provide) good food, toys for the kids and gift options for people to try and bring a little bit of joy to them at Christmas,” he said.

St Vinnies will be hosting a massive sale in the lead up to Christmas. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Mr Bruggermann said there has been quite a significant increase of eager op-shoppers looking to find quality goods that won’t break the bankacross the stores he manages.

“There’s a lot more people now coming to places like Vinnies to do shopping, because they know that they can get a really good product at a great price,” he said.

“Quality controls are really quite strong and we wouldn’t survive without the donations that we get from the general public.

“So you know those donations that come through our stores go not only to those in need, but those funds that we raise, they go back into those programs and those good works that we perform in our communities.”

The Grafton St store will be open extended hours on Thursday, November 30 from 9am to 7pm with nothing over two dollars, excluding furniture which will see a discount of 50 per cent.