The end of an era: Murrurundi Vinnies closes

TODAY the community of Murrurundi said goodbye to their local St Vincent De Paul Charity Shop (Vinnies), with the community and volunteers unsure of the reasons behind its closure.

Volunteers of Vinnies have been told that the shop isn’t making enough money a week, due to the sales dropping.

“The shop isn’t financially viable anymore because the sales have dropped, it is very disappointing but we have been running this shop with three volunteers for the last couple of years now,” said co-president Christine Fenwick.

Even though this is an end of an era, co-presidents Christine Fenwick, Phil Capararo and volunteer Christine Capararo say this is a bittersweet moment.

“We are all in our sixties now so for us we can kind of have a relax now, I can get into my gardening and maybe even do some travelling with my husband and I’m sure my colleagues will do that also,” said Ms Fenwick.

“Covid-19 may of have an impact on the sales dropping, it definitely slowed us down a lot but not enough to close us down,” said Ms Fenwick.

Vinnies were previously open five days a week when they had plenty of volunteers, but in recent years due to the lack of volunteers it was only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“I don’t think being open the two days had anything to do with us closing down, on those two days we were doing great unfortunately it just wasn’t enough,” Ms Fenwick said.

Community feedback from the announcement of Vinnies closing its door is pure disappointment, Ms Fenwick said from a volunteers point of view we struggled to find good reliable volunteers.

“We will miss all of our customers, because they became good friends of ours,” Ms Fenwick said.

“That is the sad part for us because we will miss all of the locals that came in and supported us, but as they say things happen for a reason so hopefully this is a good reason,” she said.

The announcement on the Murrurundi Life Facebook page saw locals commenting on how disappointing it would be to lose the charity shop.

“It’s very sad for people in that area with the shop closing because its hard for low income earners and elderly pensioners to afford to go elsewhere, and to pay for fuel to travel let alone to buy everyday things,” said Anthony Naldz, community member.