I recently called into Good Sammy Bunbury on my way to Margaret River and boy, I’m glad I did. The store is delightful: nicely laid out, organised, and has just the right amount of pre-loved items without feeling cluttered or overwhelming for op shoppers.
Located at 51 Albert Road, Good Sammy Bunbury has a great selection of affordable fashion, homewares and bric-a-brac with an emphasis on quality and service. Store Manager Cate says, “We do our best to stock quality brands and keep them at low prices and we enjoy assisting wherever we can.”
Gold Seal items can be found amongst regular-priced items and they include labels such as Cooper Street, Sheike, Forever New, Gorman and City Chic to name a few. A few Gold Seal items caught my eye while I was browsing the racks, including a Grecian midi dress, a pink cocktail dress and a cream and gold formal dress – all around the $15 mark.
Clothing is also arranged according to colour AND size. In fact, Bunbury was the first Good Sammy to do this. This decision sprung from Cate’s desire to give her customers a more enjoyable and convenient shopping experience. She says, “We changed up the store four years ago because it was too hard to find anything. It took about six months to get the whole store changed over, but it was worth it.” Because of how easy the store is to navigate, it only took me five minutes to find the items for this gorgeous flat lay.
The way Good Sammy Bunbury is organised certainly makes it easy to drop in quickly, but I personally urge op shoppers to take their time to walk around and admire the store’s impressive displays. It’s perhaps the best visual merchandising I’ve seen in a Good Sammy store. Cate and her team display items to show customers the many ways in which they can be worn, used, restored or upcycled. Take, for example, this old dressmaker’s dummy which is used to display secondhand brooches, or this discarded mirror which was given a glow up by being decorated with pieces of broken jewellery. This crafty bunch are great at turning people’s turning trash into treasure and breathing new life into old pieces. Some of their one-of-a-kind pieces are even available for purchase.
If “southern charm” means being friendly, considerate and kind to everyone you encounter and making others feel welcome and comfortable, then this op shop in the south-west of WA is bursting with it. The store is a warm, welcoming and creative space with a friendly and dedicated team who go out of their way to make shoppers enjoy their time in the store. They love the Bunbury community and enjoy working with local businesses that care about sustainability and wanting a better future for people with disabilities. Cate says, “The personal rewards from helping customers, employees with disability, and the environment is very satisfying.”
Satisfying is definitely a word to describe my experience as a customer of Good Sammy Bunbury, and I saw first-hand the satisfaction each of the store’s employees with disability get by working in this store. These five employees are trained by Cate and her support staff to complete daily retail tasks, such as sorting donations, manning the till and organising stock. This is Good Sammy’s core mission: to help Western Australians living with disability find meaningful employment. Two of the Bunbury participants were non-verbal when they started, but have since started talking to join in the back room banter among staff. It was heart-warming to see.
If you’re a Bunbury local, this Good Sammy should be your go-to store for shopping and donating. Being a regional store, they rely heavily on local donations, so give your wardrobe a spring clean and donate the culled items to Good Sammy. Have a browse while you’re there. You won’t be disappointed.
If you’re not a Bunbury local, make sure you call in to this store on your next trip down south. You could even plan a day trip with some thrifty pals and visit the Salvos, Vinnies and church op shops nearby. I personally love Bunbury, so an op shop crawl seems as good an excuse as any to pay the town another visit.
You can keep up to date with the store’s latest offers by registering to Good Sammy’s newsletter and selecting Bunbury as your store. Happy shopping!
Best for:
- Womenswear
- Women’s plus size
- Gold Seal
- Menswear
- Childrenswear
- Toys
- Homewares
- Bric-a-brac
- Books
