Re-Store sells all stuff you’d like to discard

By Ipsita BasuonNov. 01, 2018in Economics and Technologies
As the small village warms up to Re-Store, Trivedi hopes to take the message of re-use, exchange, rent, repair, as opposed to buying new, to many more people.
As the small village warms up to Re-Store, Trivedi hopes to take the message of re-use, exchange, rent, repair, as opposed to buying new, to many more people.

BENGALURU: Behind the concrete and glass buildings of Whitefield is Vijay Nagar, a small village lost in the grandeur of urban living. It is here that a nondescript store is bringing joy through the values of reuse and recycle.

Called Re-Store, a brain child of Devyani Trivedi, 40, a Whitefield Rising (WR) volunteer, the store sells second-hand items like women’s, men’s and children’s clothes, showcase articles, toys, board games, footwear, books and other miscellaneous items that are donated by people and are in good condition.

The idea of starting such a store came last winter when Trivedi put out a request among the WR community to collect warm clothes for people in hutments. The response was so overwhelming that Trivedi, with help from other volunteers, put it to better use. “Since everything was donated, we were against the idea of making people stand in a line to receive these. We wanted them to walk in and buy what they desired at a nominal amount,” says Trivedi.

In partnership with Whitefield Rising, Trivedi opened Re-Store on April 14. Her daughter Anvita (11) and she go about collecting donated items from urban homes. While unusable ones are discarded, others are sorted according to the category. Faulty ones are mended before they go into the store. Prices start from Rs 5 for small trinkets and can go up to Rs 300, for clothes, footwear, and games. “The most fast-selling is the Rs 5 range, thanks to children. Besides that, clothes and artefacts move fast too,” says Trivedi.

The store is already becoming a popular haunt. Javaheer, 28, who moonlights as a housemaid, couldn’t believe her luck when she found a good bed sheet, pillow covers for her modest home. “Everything is within my budget at this store. I sometimes drop by twice in a day,” she says.

As the small village warms up to Re-Store, Trivedi hopes to take the message of re-use, exchange, rent, repair, as opposed to buying new, to many more people. “My daughter too has picked up shoes, dresses and a toy from the store already,” she says proudly.

Trivedi is talking to Saahas Zero Waste, hoping to set up an E-waste bin at the store as well. “In future, I want to collaborate with farmers around to sell their fresh produce or even the milkman nearby to sell fresh milk at the store,” says she.


First published by The Economic Times on Apr. 26, 2017

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