Latest News – South Coast Collective

Phew! That was close. The afternoon before the Covid-19 Lockdown we finished moving into our new place at 93a Aro St. Aro Valley.

We had to scrub, clean, paint and move the entire shop in just four days.

This picture is just some of the South Coast Collective and Verdant team near the end of the last day. All of us looking pretty tired!

🙏🙏🙏I would like to thank everyone who helped out. I am really grateful for the help we received. Thank you especially to the following:

• Rosey from Rosemary O’Hara Pottery. She has been an absolute trooper for four long days scrubbing the floors, filling in holes, painting and making sure the painting actually got done properly. It’s been physically demanding.

Rosey at the very end of the day with her Pots behind her

•Rowan from Global Wood Rework for volunteering and painting the outside of the building, dismantling and lifting.

•John of Capital Blinds for just turning up in between jobs and dismantling everything at the old shop; especially our temperamental sign, which for a moment there I thought we were going to have to leave behind.

•Anthea of 29 native bees & Anthea Grob Clay, for looking after the kids on Tuesday when daycare closed with no notice, and helping shift and clean at both shops.

•David and Ryan of Burns Upholstery for turning up to do a load at the last minute, when I thought we weren’t going to make it in time.

And thanks to staff;

• Demelza has been amazing over the last four days, doing everything that needed doing with no complaints.

Janette & Demelza at the end Day 1 cleaning, scrubbing and painting

• Alex for just getting stuck in and packing anything that needed packing.

• Damian (the hubby) for his support, car loads and ensuring we still got fed, even though he had his own work stuff to organise in the craziness of the last 48 hours we had notice of the Lockdown.

And lastly the SCC & Verdant Team would also like to thank the Aro Valley community. We have had many people stop by (keeping their 2 metre distance) to say hello and welcome to the neighbourhood. That has really kept us going and feeling positive in these very trying times!

I am truely grateful and overwhelmed by the help and support. – Janette

Here’s what we did manage to set up:

The table we managed to set up before Lockdown

An awful lot of wrapping paper gets immediately trashed, and a lot of it contains plastics. A furoshiki cloth can be used for elegantly presenting a wide variety of sizes and shapes of gifts for many years, or whipped out and turned into a carry bag, in seconds. Many of us have heard of this cloth wrapping tradition, but who knew it was so easy and fun. South Coast Collective team have become real enthusiasts of this traditional and eminently sensible practice.

There are a lot of plastic balloons that end up in the landfill and the ocean which become a threat to ocean wildlife, chock-able and tangle-able. For plastic free July we have sourced from the only remaining manufacturer of these in Japan, colourful, re-useable paper balloons, that you blow up with a straw.

On any weekend in July, South Coast Collective are inviting the public to a free demonstration, of how to practice this traditional re-useable gift wrapping and instant carry-bag making. We will have a variety of cloths on hand, one of our team will demonstrate. There will be a table for you to practice on and an instruction sheet for you to take away to practice and try out other wrapping ideas.

We’re open 9.30 to 4 Saturday and 10 to 1 on Sundays. Come in and learn the art of bag making and gift wrapping with a simple square of cloth, and never look back! All you need to make this change is a square of non slippery cloth (preferably organic cotton of course!) and the know how to do one or two simple knots.

Category: Latest News

We have moved to Aro Street

Furoshiki and Bojagi Cloth Wrapping and Japanese Paper Balloons for Plastic-Free-July