Latest news with #Salvos
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
This popular ‘90s toy is trending as collector's item, selling for hundreds online
Check your storage! One of the most popular kids toys of the '90s is trending online, and if you've still got one, you might just be able to use it to pay off the week's groceries (or maybe even a few weeks). Your favorite toy is now a collector's item! The Fisher Price Dream Doll House was a staple in every little kid's home in the '90s. 3 The Fisher Price Dream Doll House from the '90s is going viral. Ebay 3 The dollhouse is being sold for hundreds of dollars. Ebay If you didn't have one, you certainly knew someone who did, and I dare say it was on the top of your wishlist at every Christmas and birthday – despite the 'creepy' doll faces. Fisher Price even shared a clip of the 1992 buy just last year – and commenters had never felt so nostalgic. 'I actually had this doll house until 14 years ago. I still remember the Christmas I got it. I found it hidden in my grandparents house. I decided to randomly start playing with it. Then I got caught and had to wait till Christmas. I was so excited Christmas Morning,' one person said. 'I still have mine and all 3 of my children have played with it and loved it! My youngest is 3 and still plays with it often!!!!' said another. 'That brings back sooo many memories,' a third agreed. Well, if you haven't sold yours by now and you're not feeling so attached, you might want to go and check its condition, as the piece and all of its accessories are now selling for hundreds online. 3 Fisher Price shared a clip of the 1992 buy just last year. facebook/fisherprice How much is it really worth? An Aussie mom has taken to the Australian BSS Fisher Price Loving Family group on Facebook this week to put her beloved doll house, along with all the accompanying accessories, up for auction. And, while a standard doll house might set you back a pretty penny now, this one – now over 30 years old – is going to cost you even more, with a starting price of $522.10 USD. This particular page sees many desperate shoppers helping others to buy and sell these dollhouses in both blue and pink. Prices start from around $16 for those feeling particularly generous, and go up to around $196, and sometimes even more. Over on eBay, you can find similar prices again, with Salvos currently auctioning off a doll house with four dolls and a number of other accessories. The current price? $336.10 plus shipping. Despite little ones turning more and more to digital toys and online options, it seems there's still absolutely a market out there for 'vintage' (though referring to the '90s as vintage truly hurts my soul) toys like these. Those with a blue roof like this one are said to be even more rare, so if you think you've got one at home and are in need of some extra cash, why not jump on and see what the rest of the world thinks it's worth.
Herald Sun
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Herald Sun
Your favourite '90s toy Fisher Price doll house is selling for hundreds online
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News. Check your storage! One of the most popular kids toys of the '90s is trending online, and if you've still got one, you might just be able to use it to pay off the week's groceries (or maybe even a few weeks). Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this. Image: eBay / Salvos Stores. RELATED: Shoppers divided over '90s Kmart buy Your favourite toy is now a collector's item! The Fisher Price Dream Doll House was a staple in every little kid's home in the '90s. If you didn't have one, you certainly knew someone who did, and I dare say it was on the top of your wishlist at every Christmas and birthday - despite the 'creepy' doll faces. Fisher Price even shared a clip of the 1992 buy just last year - and commenters had never felt so nostalgic. 'I actually had this doll house until 14 years ago. I still remember the Christmas I got it. I found it hidden in my grandparents house. I decided to randomly start playing with it. Then I got caught and had to wait till Christmas. I was so excited Christmas Morning,' one person said. 'I still have mine and all 3 of my children have played with it and loved it! My youngest is 3 and still plays with it often!!!!' said another. 'That brings back sooo many memories,' a third agreed. Well, if you haven't sold yours by now and you're not feeling so attached, you might want to go and check its condition, as the piece and all of its accessories are now selling for hundreds online. How much is it really worth? An Aussie mum has taken to the Australian BSS Fisher Price Loving Family group on Facebook this week to put her beloved doll house, along with all the accompanying accessories, up for auction. And, while a standard doll house might set you back a pretty penny now, this one - now over 30 years old - is going to cost you even more, with a starting price of $800. This particular page sees many desperate shoppers helping others to buy and sell these dollhouses in both blue and pink. Prices start from around $25 for those feeling particularly generous, and go up to $300, and sometimes even more. Over on eBay, you can find similar prices again, with Salvos currently auctioning off a doll house with four dolls and a number of other accessories. The current price? $515 plus shipping. Despite little ones turning more and more to digital toys and online options, it seems there's still absolutely a market out there for 'vintage' (though referring to the '90s as vintage truly hurts my soul) toys like these. Those with a blue roof like this one are said to be even more rare, so if you think you've got one at home and are in need of some extra cash, why not jump on and see what the rest of the world thinks it's worth. Originally published as Your favourite '90s toy is selling for hundreds online
Perth Now
23-06-2025
- Health
- Perth Now
Cold washes, no soap for those stuck in poverty prison
Cold showers without soap, going without medical care and struggling to pay for transport are daily realities for thousands of Australians living below the poverty line. That's the grim picture revealed by a survey of more than 3500 Australians who lean on the Salvation Army for support. More than one third of people only use cold water to wash, while 43 per cent revealed they cannot afford toilet paper, menstrual products or soap. Cost-of-living struggles are already having an impact on the next generation, with 34 per cent revealing their children missed school because they couldn't afford the fuel or public transport fares needed to drop them off. Some 3.3 million Australians live below the poverty line, the Australian Council of Social Services says. That's equivalent to about 13.4 per cent of the population, or one in eight adults and one in six children. "The lengths that Australian's are having to resort to in order to survive is truly heartbreaking," Salvation Army Major Bruce Harmer said. "Behind every stat in this Salvos research are real people who we have supported, many of whom are trapped in a prison of poverty and feel they do not have any hope." One woman, who the charity did not name, said she lived paycheck to paycheck and often goes without food. "My clothes are falling off me as I have lost weight and I can't afford to buy ones that fit," she said. "I can't afford fuel for my car, so that leaves me isolated at home, affecting my mental health even worse than it already is." One-in-four people who took part in the survey had their electricity disconnected while one on five had to couch surf over the past 12 months. About seven in 10 said they lost sleep over their finances and almost half said their mental health had worsened over the past year. The Salvation Army released the survey findings to coincide with their Red Shield Appeal, which aims to raise $38 million by the end of June.
The Guardian
31-01-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
A Vinnies that never sleeps and an online thrift store to rival Asos: op shops log on to meet new demand
Liz Randle wants to know where else you could find a ra-ra dress next to a pair of pyjamas on a sales rack. She pulls the dress out, and its blue sequins glitter under the warehouse light. 'Only here,' Randle says, before moving down the next aisle, where TV monitors sit on shelves next to fluffy rugs, which sit next to outdoor TV projectors, which sit next to rows and rows of new shoes, all still in their boxes. The warehouse in Melbourne's industrial south-east is filled to the brim with goods Vinnies Victoria is going to sell in its new online store. Workers meticulously sort through items before they're photographed, uploaded to the cloud and put on the website for sale. They've called it the 'shop that never sleeps'. 'Our customers have been asking for this for a while,' Randle says. 'So we thought, right, let's go, let's get serious about this.' Over the past 10 years, op shops around Australia have changed. No longer are they small stores where bargain hunters find $1 bins; now they're often stylish, with a high level of visual merchandising. And increasingly, they're moving online. Salvos has had an online store for five years, while Vinnies Victoria launched theirs late last November and Vinnies NSW are about to establish an online fashion store, one to rival Asos. Randle says while they've only had an online store open for a few weeks, the idea started 10 years ago – with 700 Star Wars figurines. 'Back then we got a donation from the general public, from a collector of Star Wars,' she says. 'His whole house was covered with them.' They split the collection into affordable groups and put them up on eBay. Buyers – including one from South America – snapped them up. 'That opened our eyes,' she says. 'We were like, 'This has got amazing reach.'' From clothing to electricals, the online store sells an eccentric array of items – Randle says one benefit is being able to find a market for items they couldn't put in stores. 'The other day, and I'm not even joking, [someone] donated a caravan,' she says. 'We sold that in 48 hours.' A hospital bed worth $7,000, an Olympic-level training bike for paraplegics – they've gone up online and out the warehouse door at a discounted price. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Most of it is not niche or unique – it's good quality garments and bric-a-brac that will appeal to a wide customer base, she says. 'You won't be finding a $2 T-shirt,' she says. Randle says this won't replace the brick-and-mortar stores. Vinnies has 121 stores around the country and has opened 11 in the last six months. Last year they sold 4m items – up from 1m the year before. 'Driving that is a huge shift in the market around sustainability, and 'buy nothing new' trends, with the younger generation really bringing that to the fore,' she says. 'But we're seeing an increase in working poor over the past five years. You've got families out there where mum and dad are both working [and] it's still a struggle.' Sophie Noonan is the founder of Oppspot – a website where op shops around the country can put their goods online. They take a 2% commission, which is low compared with sites like Depop which take 8%, and offer a 'sell it for you' package, where they collect, photograph and ship the stock for Melbourne's stores. She says op shops moving online is important – not just for the major players so they can fund their social programs, but for smaller stores so they can continue to compete. 'Many op shops, they're largely volunteer run,' she says. 'If someone calls in sick or goes on a holiday, sometimes that op shop doesn't open and they don't raise funds that day. 'We're really about making sure that they have a shopfront that is always open 24 hours a day. Rain, hail or shine.' Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion By early May, Vinnies NSW will launch its new online store – with a twist. Marketing and communications director Tom Morgan flicks his mouse through the beta version of the site, moving between brands. 'We're very excited about this,' he says. 'What we're launching is a fashion site, aimed at gen Y, gen Z, millennials.' It looks fresh, like a thrifty version of Asos with a socially conscious catch. Customers can filter between price points of under $10 and under $100. None of it will be fast fashion. 'There's going to be no Uniqlo, there's no Target, there's no Kmart,' he says. 'Because we know that it doesn't last, and it stretches, and there's drama with it.' There won't be bric-a-brac or electronics. Instead, shoppers will flick between Adidas, New Balance, and high-end brands. 'As we go live, we'll have around 1,000 different brands on the website,' he says. 'They'll be 30,000 products on day one.' While there is a rush of charities wanting to get online, some have long been in the game. The Brotherhood of St Laurence has been selling books online since 2009. The books are donated through their op shops before being checked for defects and personal messages so that information can be included in the selection. 'Since launching, we've sold hundreds of thousands of books, with 77,000 books finding new homes last year alone,' BSL's head of social enterprises, Alison Fletcher, says. 'Demand fluctuates throughout the year, peaking during key sales periods like EOFY and Black Friday. Rare and collectible books, literary classics and fiction remain particularly popular.' As stores move online, though, they have one challenge to contend with: how to keep prices low while including postage. Salvos has more than 400 stores around the country. One way around it is by giving customers the option to pick it up from a store if the product is close to them, says general manager of customer and strategy Sarah Knox. They launched their online store in 2020 when Covid forced their brick-and-mortar stores to close. Knox says it was so popular the site crashed within 10 minutes. Now capable of handling a lot more traffic, she says they keep seeing an increase in customers. 'There is an increased demand for secondhand clothing,' she says. 'Some people are keen to shop secondhand because they know that it has a positive impact on the environment, and they can contribute to a circular economy. 'We also know that we're in a cost-of-living crisis, and some people, they know that shopping secondhand is a more affordable way of clothing their families.'
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A Vinnies that never sleeps and an online thrift store to rival Asos: op shops log on to meet new demand
Liz Randle wants to know where else you could find a ra-ra dress next to a pair of pyjamas on a sales rack. She pulls the dress out, and its blue sequins glitter under the warehouse light. 'Only here,' Randle says, before moving down the next aisle, where TV monitors sit on shelves next to fluffy rugs, which sit next to outdoor TV projectors, which sit next to rows and rows of new shoes, all still in their boxes. The warehouse in Melbourne's industrial south-east is filled to the brim with goods Vinnies Victoria is going to sell in its new online store. Workers meticulously sort through items before they're photographed, uploaded to the cloud and put on the website for sale. They've called it the 'shop that never sleeps'. 'Our customers have been asking for this for a while,' Randle says. 'So we thought, right, let's go, let's get serious about this.' Over the past 10 years, op shops around Australia have changed. No longer are they small stores where bargain hunters find $1 bins; now they're often stylish, with a high level of visual merchandising. And increasingly, they're moving online. Salvos has had an online store for five years, while Vinnies Victoria launched theirs late last November and Vinnies NSW are about to establish an online fashion store, one to rival Asos. Randle says while they've only had an online store open for a few weeks, the idea started 10 years ago – with 700 Star Wars figurines. 'Back then we got a donation from the general public, from a collector of Star Wars,' she says. 'His whole house was covered with them.' They split the collection into affordable groups and put them up on eBay. Buyers – including one from South America – snapped them up. 'That opened our eyes,' she says. 'We were like, 'This has got amazing reach.'' From clothing to electricals, the online store sells an eccentric array of items – Randle says one benefit is being able to find a market for items they couldn't put in stores. 'The other day, and I'm not even joking, [someone] donated a caravan,' she says. 'We sold that in 48 hours.' A hospital bed worth $7,000, an Olympic-level training bike for paraplegics – they've gone up online and out the warehouse door at a discounted of it is not niche or unique – it's good quality garments and bric-a-brac that will appeal to a wide customer base, she says. 'You won't be finding a $2 T-shirt,' she says. Randle says this won't replace the brick-and-mortar stores. Vinnies has 121 stores around the country and has opened 11 in the last six months. Last year they sold 4m items – up from 1m the year before. 'Driving that is a huge shift in the market around sustainability, and 'buy nothing new' trends, with the younger generation really bringing that to the fore,' she says. 'But we're seeing an increase in working poor over the past five years. You've got families out there where mum and dad are both working [and] it's still a struggle.' Sophie Noonan is the founder of Oppspot – a website where op shops around the country can put their goods online. They take a 2% commission, which is low compared with sites like Depop which take 8%, and offer a 'sell it for you' package, where they collect, photograph and ship the stock for Melbourne's stores. She says op shops moving online is important – not just for the major players so they can fund their social programs, but for smaller stores so they can continue to compete. 'Many op shops, they're largely volunteer run,' she says. 'If someone calls in sick or goes on a holiday, sometimes that op shop doesn't open and they don't raise funds that day. 'We're really about making sure that they have a shopfront that is always open 24 hours a day. Rain, hail or shine.' By early May, Vinnies NSW will launch its new online store – with a twist. Marketing and communications director Tom Morgan flicks his mouse through the beta version of the site, moving between brands. 'We're very excited about this,' he says. 'What we're launching is a fashion site, aimed at gen Y, gen Z, millennials.' It looks fresh, like a thrifty version of Asos with a socially conscious catch. Customers can filter between price points of under $10 and under $100. None of it will be fast fashion. 'There's going to be no Uniqlo, there's no Target, there's no Kmart,' he says. 'Because we know that it doesn't last, and it stretches, and there's drama with it.' There won't be bric-a-brac or electronics. Instead, shoppers will flick between Adidas, New Balance, and high-end brands. 'As we go live, we'll have around 1,000 different brands on the website,' he says. 'They'll be 30,000 products on day one.' While there is a rush of charities wanting to get online, some have long been in the game. The Brotherhood of St Laurence has been selling books online since 2009. The books are donated through their op shops before being checked for defects and personal messages so that information can be included in the selection. 'Since launching, we've sold hundreds of thousands of books, with 77,000 books finding new homes last year alone,' BSL's head of social enterprises, Alison Fletcher, says. 'Demand fluctuates throughout the year, peaking during key sales periods like EOFY and Black Friday. Rare and collectible books, literary classics and fiction remain particularly popular.' As stores move online, though, they have one challenge to contend with: how to keep prices low while including postage. Salvos has more than 400 stores around the country. One way around it is by giving customers the option to pick it up from a store if the product is close to them, says general manager of customer and strategy Sarah Knox. They launched their online store in 2020 when Covid forced their brick-and-mortar stores to close. Knox says it was so popular the site crashed within 10 minutes. Now capable of handling a lot more traffic, she says they keep seeing an increase in customers. Related: Let's face it, Australia could pick people from the crowd and still beat England | Geoff Lemon 'There is an increased demand for secondhand clothing,' she says. 'Some people are keen to shop secondhand because they know that it has a positive impact on the environment, and they can contribute to a circular economy. 'We also know that we're in a cost-of-living crisis, and some people, they know that shopping secondhand is a more affordable way of clothing their families.'
