Salvation Army volunteers were smiling from ear to ear last Monday as the door to the Craigieburn thrift shop opened for the first time in two months.
The easing of COVID-19 restrictions across the state meant the Craigieburn Salvos were able to re-open the store, which is one of its main sources of revenue.
Captain Peter Brookshaw said staff, volunteers and the community were excited to have the store trading once again.
“We are excited to be back; the smiles on the volunteer’s faces yesterday when they were able to go back to the store, it was great,” he said.
“It is great to see retail stores buzzing again,
“We want the retail sector to be strong, it’s good for the economy and local jobs.”
The thrift shop, like many other retail stores, has introduced a range of safety measures including hand sanitiser, sneeze guards and changes to the shop layout to encourage social distancing.
Mr Brookshaw said the Salvation Army had also introduced a new policy preventing staff and volunteers from sorting through donations until 72-hours after they are received.
He encouraged shoppers to visit the store to check out its winter clothing, with profits from the store used to fund the Salvos support services.
“Through our welfare services, I think we are going to see a big increase in demand for our services once the JobKeeper package ends and the JobSeeker payment goes back to its original rate,” Mr Brookshaw said.
