Early opportunity (‘op’) shops were usually located in places like church halls. These women are sorting out donated second-hand clothes in a large hall in 1931. Most are wearing white coats, probably to protect their own clothes from getting dirty. There is so much clothing that one woman (far left) is sitting on a pile. The woman in the right foreground is a member of the Salvation Army, which is credited with opening the first op shops in Britain in the late 19th century.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand Free Lance Collection (PAColl-0785)
Reference:
1/2-C-016208; F
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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