​​Our History

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In 1979 the Foster Op Shop entity was initiated by the Linton Court Retirement Village. The building in the old Shire Offices was small, which limited the scope of operation. Despite this, a dedicated group of volunteers raised funds which greatly assisted the development of facilities at Linton Court (LC). Many of those volunteers are still helping in the enterprise today. The building was eventually condemned and the Linton Court Op Shop sought alternative accommodation. In 2016 the Linton Court (LC) Board approached the Prom Country Aged Care (PCAC) Board to explore the possibility of working together to raise money for both organisations on a new site.

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Several sites were considered, by Dec 2016 Prom Country Aged Care (PCAC) and Linton Court opened their first shop at 18 Main Street Foster, focusing on the sale of small items and clothes.

 

A second site was also opened as a Pop Up Shop at the Dower Garage (78 Main Street Foster) selling a range of items focusing on furniture. This became an ongoing business and was later named the Garage Sale Outlet. A warehouse was set up at the Banksia Lodge, Jones Street Foster, owned at the time by PCAC, to provide a space to sort and cull clothing and accessories. The Warehouse moved into temporary premises at Linton Court in 2019 and was later to be relocated into the Garage Sale Outlet (GSO) in 2020.

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The two shops continued to trade beyond all expectations with a combined gross sales of $250,000 in 2019 and were run 100% by volunteers. By December 2019 the Boards of PCAC and LC decided to purchase the building at 78 Main Street, Foster to provide an ongoing security of lease for the bigger building.

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In late 2021 the decision was made, (largely as a response to COVID 19) to consolidate both shops at the GSO and to trial an online shop. Consequently, the clothes were moved into the Hangar at the back of the main building and an online presence was trialed. This was a big move and many of our wonderful volunteers worked tirelessly to ensure the transition could go smoothly and items were sold during lockdowns.

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By 2021 the business had reached a major milestone of gross sales exceeding one million dollars. The long-term viability and sustainability of the business became the priority to ensure the ongoing fundraising for the two community not-for-profit organisations.

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In February 2022, the decision was made to employ a manager to alleviate some of the pressure on volunteers who had been carrying out Duty Manager responsibilities and ensure consistency in management style. In November 2022 a second person was employed to provide backup and sustainability to open consistently. 

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In April 2023 a decision was made to rename the business to ‘Foster Op Shop and Collectables’ and to expand the online marketing to items across all business categories.  

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