Part of an infamous orange building has been given a purple paint job in preparation for the opening of an op shop.
Roofs to Recovery, a charity working to address homelessness, has taken a space at 1-9 Bulcock Street, Caloundra, next to Bad Hair Day barber.
The building and 45-47 Bombala Street had been earmarked for Paloma Paloma, a palatial hotel development, and was painted orange as a marketing tactic before the project went cold.
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President John Nicol, a retired Presbyterian minister, said the op shop came about through he and his wife handling the estate of a parishioner at a church, where he had previously been minister.
“She had asked us if we would be executors for her estate. She was only about 30 at the time and we were in our 30s and we never thought any more about it. That was 30 to 35 years ago,” he said.
“Then we got a call. She had never married, never had any children. We were her only ‘family’.”
The Nicols and helpers spent months clearing the woman’s very full house, which included items the woman had purchased with the intention of donating to homeless children and refugees.
“We have two container loads of stuff that we were actually going to garage sale but it’s too much for a garage sale so we had the idea of an op shop.”
Mr Nicol said funds raised from the op shop would support the running of two Roofs to Recovery projects, one to house homeless women over 55 and the other to house expectant and new mothers.
The charity is banking on funding coming through for at least one of the projects in the New Year and is shopping around for land suitable for a small multiple dwelling project.
In the course of trying to fit out the shop, it has also received an offer of the use of two units on a cost-only basis to house mothers.
Mr Nicol said the Roofs to Recovery Team had been buoyed by the support received while working on opening the shop.
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“We’ve had people come and ask us what we’re doing and when we tell them, they say, ‘Oh, I’ve got some stuff you can have’,” he said.
Team members are still needed to fill shifts at the op shop.
Mr Nicol was not worried that the site may be developed, saying it gave the charity the opportunity to trial an op shop without a long-term commitment.
“If it doesn’t work out, we’re not locked into a long lease and if it does, we can look for something else more permanent,” he said.
The transition of the shop’s exterior from orange to purple has not pleased some in the community who would prefer a more neutral colour scheme.
Mr Nicol made no apologies for the colour, which he hopes will draw attention.
“Purple and white are our colours. We wear purple shirts,” he said.
