Vale The Green Shed. New Vinnies operation's name revealed as handover nears

The Green Shed will become Goodies Junction on 31 May. Photo: Region.

The end is nigh for The Green Shed with the ACT Government announcing handover arrangements to Vinnies and revealing the new operation’s name – Goodies Junction.

As planned, charity St Vincent de Paul Canberra/Goulburn (Vinnies), trading as Goodies Junction, will take over the ACT’s reusable facilities and outlets at Mitchell and Mugga Lane Resource Management Centres on Friday, 31 May.

Transport Canberra and City Services’ dumping in March of The Green Shed in favour of Vinnies proved controversial, provoking a social media storm that eventually led to the ACT Auditor-General launching an investigation into how the tender was conducted.

TCCS said that the retail outlets will be closed from Friday, 31 May, until they reopened on Monday, 1 July, at 7:30 am.

Goodies Junction will be able to receive donations from the community – including furniture, electrical equipment, clothing, building materials and tools – via the existing vehicle drop-off arrangements from 8 am on Friday, 31 May, and thereon from 7:30 am to 4:45 pm Monday to Sunday.

The second-hand stores at the Mitchell and Mugga Lane Resource Management Centres will also operate from 1 July from 7:30 am to 4:45 pm, Monday to Sunday.

TCCS Acting Deputy Director-General, City Services, Bruce Fitzgerald, said Vinnies’ strategy to reduce the number of items going to landfill meant the new stores would be better stocked and its pricing would be clearer.

“Some of the features of the new reusable facilities include transparent pricing of goods and more reusable items staying in circulation rather than ending up in landfill,” he said.

“Vinnies have an ambitious target of reducing items sent to landfill from their 10 Canberra shops by 10 to 30 per cent over the next four years.”

Mr Fitzgerald said the community would continue to have access to the service’s much-loved features, such as free clothing and quality goods and furniture at bargain prices.

“Vinnies will also have a dedicated education space made available for the delivery of workshops, repair activities and structured education,” he said.

The new Goodies Junction website explains that the new operation’s name says it all: “We take your goodies and do good things for our community, both for charitable and environmental causes.”

It says the stores will keep prices low and have clear in-store price points for every item with price tags, including standard, low pricing every day, with full-price items starting at $1 and discounted items starting at 25 cents.

Discounts for bulk purchases will be available on most items.

The website lists what goods will be accepted and what can’t.

The Green Shed was a private business that operated from 2010 after winning the tender for the reuse facilities previously run by Revolve.

In the wake of this year’s tender announcement, Vinnies said it would retain any Green Shed staff who wished to stay on.

The Auditor-General will examine whether the tender was fair, transparent and equitable. A report is expected to be handed to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in the first quarter of 2024-25.

It will not examine why TCCS put the services out to tender.