This is a question that became a riddle — and today, finally, the answer is yes!
I’m excited to share that we have officially celebrated the first day of trading at the newest addition to our Refindit by Outlook reuse shop network – Townsville, QLD.
Our doors were due to open at 9am local time, but the car park was filling up well before 7:30am. So … open we did, to a wonderfully welcoming and excited procession of visitors.
Our first purchase, followed soon after; a local gentleman getting a great deal on a second-hand lawn mower. Soon after, bikes, kitchen appliances and bric-a-brac, DVDs, tools and camping equipment surrounded the cash register beside their soon-to-be new owners.
By 9am the car park was full, some a little concerned that they had missed the opening, but soon happy to see low-cost, high-value items filling shelves rather than landfill.
By mid-morning the shop was full of visitors, along with Nick Dametto, the newly sworn-in Mayor of Townsville, representatives from our newest customer, the Townsville City Council, and local media represented by Channel 7 and the ABC.
One of the highlights of the day was the genuine excitement and gratitude of the community. The shop has been closed for two years, and throughout that time there has been significant desire throughout the region for it to re-open. It was lovely to see historical frequent customers reacquaint with old friends and share stories of the site and the good buys they’d found in the past, whilst showing off their finds from today’s visit.
The continuous queue at the register finally broke just ahead of 2pm, giving us the opportunity to restock with the day’s donations and items salvaged at the gatehouse and the transfer station.
In the end, 137 transactions were completed across the day. Most people visited as a group or a couple, and I don’t think anyone left empty-handed.
Our Outlook Retail Development Manger, Danielle Werner and I had a great and thoroughly exhausting day. I look forward to growing the team in Townsville and welcoming some new team members in the coming days.
A huge thank you to the mobilisation team for making all of this possible and for the significant work in preparation for our opening day. It was big, it was fun, and we can’t wait to do it again.
– Callum Ross, Executive for Social Enterprise
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