No hanging about

It was our first time at the Oxfam Superstore this morning - always exciting to have a new GoodGym task location! Welcomed in by the familiar face of our GoodGymer pal Kate (the womenswear manager at Oxfam Superstore), we quickly signed in and had an introduction to the superstore before it opened to the public, before heading behind the scenes to sort donations.

Books! films! clothes! games! furniture! They have something for everyone here.

Oxfam strives not to waste anything, so items rejected for the superstore displays might get listed in their online shop, sent to other Oxfam shops, or if items are unsaleable then as much as possible is recycled. People can book a timeslot and then drop off their donations at the back door, so there are always lots of items getting delivered.

We divided ourselves up between sections of the sorting space, rolled up our sleeves (metaphorically), and got stuck in.
Holly headed to glassware to sort, dust, and polish.
Zoe was the only one of us with sufficient caffeine in her system to be trusted to check and count all component parts of board games.
Anwen sorted and priced DVDs. Apparently the classics are the most popular genre in the charity shop, and Harrison Ford is a favourite.
Meanwhile Julia and Rachael proved that it's not only on litter picks that we find pants, unearthing a whole bag of underwear as they sorted clothes donations (thankfully, wearing gloves!). Shoulda brought the litter pickers.

Our 3 hour shift flew by, fueled by tea and biscuits and motivated by a bit of ABBA on the radio. It was fun to see everything that Oxfam is doing at their Cowley Superstore. We hope to revisit soon.