The Green Shed will close today, marking the end of an era for its owners Sandie Parkes and Charlie Biggs-Wither.
At the end of the first day, there were a few shelves, we had a jug, a saucepan, a lawnmower ... just a couple of things in the shipping container and we were very, very happy with all this stuff.It's also fitting that the circular economy the store has been committed to all these years will continue to turn, with Vinnies set to take over The Green Shed's contract from the end of the month.
They have now built it up to four sites across Canberra, 84 employees and more than 20,000 visitors a week."I had a knee operation a few years ago and was waiting to go into surgery," she recalled. It's also been the source of fundraising for the community, with a charity day held on the last Wednesday of each month.Not a charity shop but a community resource
On occasion, the sheer volume of stuff delivered has been "overwhelming", Ms Parkes said, and the staff have questioned why "we just buy so much".As a business, it's actually quantity rather than quality which The Green Shed relies on.