Moree’s 61 Balo Café will hold their first ever preloved clothing market on Sunday 30 Jun from 8am – 1pm.
In a nod to both sustainable fashion and community spirit, café owner Sarah Grant said they’ve been overwhelmed with the community response so far.
“We ran a Mother’s Day market with around 6-8 stalls and it gave us a great idea of just how much we could fit in what is essentially a really underutilised space for the café,” said Ms Grant.
“We figured out we could fit around 20 and then after throwing some ideas around we put out the expression of interest on Facebook and received 45 responses which was just amazing.”
The premise of the morning is simple, stall holders pay a fee of $10 for a single rack or table. Stall holders are then welcome to bring along any good quality second hand clothing, shoes or accessories to sell on the day.
“We’ve had quite a few of our stall holders for the day say that they’re doing their stall with a friend –2 people sharing a rack – so we should have a really great range of preloved items,” said Ms Grant.
“So many people have told me how they have things just sitting in their wardrobe that they don’t wear, or that they’ve bought something for a specific event, wore it once, and now don’t have a use for it so it’s a really fantastic way to turn those items into cash.”
The café will be open as usual so shoppers can start or finish their browsing with a coffee and a bite to eat.
“Given the response has been so positive, and we had so many people miss out on the opportunity to be a stall holder this time, we’ll definitely be holding another market in the near future, most likely around September when the weather is a bit nicer,” said Ms Grant.
Ms Grant took on ownership of the café in February this year, off the back of her previous career as Venue Manger for the Moree Aquatic Centre, and she has big plans for 61 Balo.
“I’m working on some night time menus and events for the near future and we’ll also be holding more markets and other community-orientated events in the coming months,” said Ms Grant.
“Moree’s had a really tough time with crime and a lot of negativity of late so I just feel it’s really important that as business owners we all come together and boost other businesses in the area and support the community – hopefully we can all come together and push out the negative.”
For more information about 61 Balo and their upcoming events, visit their Facebook page.
Like what you’re reading? Support The New England Times by making a small donation today and help us keep delivering local news paywall-free. Donate now