Op shopping involves sifting through the detritus of other people’s lives. Unlike the curated precision of first‑hand retail, op shops offer an overwhelming array of items whose surprising juxtapositions cultivate a chaotic charm that many shoppers find appealing. The fate of things reflects on the ambiguities of our relationships with material things; the meanings and values we ascribe to them; and the process through which those meanings are created.
Op shops have become an established feature of the retail economy. Op shops constantly renegotiate the value of objects as they re-enter the sphere of retail and consumption from home to shop and back again. For those facing financial hardship, op shops provide access to affordable clothing and household necessities. They divert over a million tonnes of household goods from landfill whilst generating substantial social, economic and environmental benefits that link people back to concepts of community and social responsibility.