Eclectic expands antiques with op-shop

Eclectic Antiques on Hardy St is expanding its repertoire of pre-loved desirable curiosities by opening a permanent op-shop.

“It’s a shop within a shop,” says Eclectic Antique Centre’s Maria Henare when she describes their newly-opened op-shop.

After running the store as a temporary pop-up for several years in a row, she says it just made sense to move it in-house.

“Leases aren’t cheap in Nelson ... and we’ve got the space.”

Once the idea was formulated, Maria and the team turned to the task of clearing out the store ready for the grand opening.

“It took a while. It was chock-a-block to the ceiling and then I’d go out and buy more.”

She says the op-shop is designed to be a “completely different” space than downstairs, where would-be bargain hunters can find all the bounty they could ever want.

“There’s stuff never seen before, it’s not all just surplus to me,” says Maria.

“I provide the space and the stock and have the other girls running it. It’s not me.”

With new stock added every day, she envisages the store as a place people will want to continue coming back to.

Maria says this is the natural progression after people loved the store across the road, which started on the back of successful trips to open a pop-up in Wellington.

“What we originally used to do is, my husband and I would take a truck load to Wellington ...  and people would line up from 4am in the morning for the ‘Great Eclectic Jumble Sale’.”

With over 30 years’ experience in the antiques business, Maria says they’ve become quite a destination store.

They want to get the word out about the op-shop that “we’re open and we’re permanent now”.

Eclectic Antique Centre is the second-highest-rated antique store in the South Island, according to TripAdvisor.

Christine Ross, the op-shop’s manager, says there’s something for everyone in the new store.

“It’s vintage everything, furniture, china, bric-a-brac, tools, you name it.

“There’s lots of items to upcycle or repurpose ... some items are done and some are a work in progress.”

She says people have already come into the store, excited that the op-shop is now permanent.

“A lady came in this morning and said ‘thank god you’re back’.”