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Volunteers start arriving at the church just before 9am on a crisp Saturday morning. They begin offloading boxes filled with clothes, shoes, fruit and toiletries, and swiftly set up shop.
The Street Store has come a long way since its first pop-up appearance in Cape Town in January 2014.
The concept is simple. Instead of hand-outs, the store gives the poor the freedom to choose their own items.
Setting up your own shop
This Street Store started when a staff member of SGS Consulting heard about the concept on the radio.
“I shared it with the staff at SGS, and that’s how we were able to start this,” said Olwethu Sizani, the operations manager at SGS Consulting.
“I went to The Street Store’s website, thestreetstore.org/, requested their permission to host our very own Street Store and got their approval.”
The success of stores popping up all over the country points to a distinct need for such a concept, especially at this time of the year when the poor and homeless will require extra care with regard to blankets and warm clothing as winter approaches.
Any organisation can host a street store. All that is required is to download the official Street Store posters, put together an efficient team of volunteers and collect enough goodies that can be distributed on the day.
To community members such as Gladys Ntsibande (76), this means the world. She has been coming to Bethesda Methodist Church in Houghton, Johannesburg, for a hot meal on Saturdays since the inception of the church’s feeding scheme 10 years ago, and was at its first Street Store opening here in 2014.
“To see The Street Store go up again today ... it’s a special moment for me,” Ntsibande said in an emotional interview translated by Mantima Thekiso, a minister.
“I cannot express how grateful I am to know that there are people out there looking out for the poor, restoring dignity rather than just throwing things at us.”
Ntsibande was wearing a navy ankle-length plaid skirt, which she pulled from the clothing racks at The Street Store two years ago.
“There is a sense of pride when I look at myself and can say, ‘I chose this, and I’m beautiful’,” Ntsibande said.
“Giving people dignity is part of what we are about,” said Reverend Mzwandile Molo, who has served as minister of the church for 11 years.
“It is a way to make people feel that they own their lives and can decide for themselves who they are.”
In 2014, a shopper managed to put together an entire outfit for a job interview the next day, just from the clothes that were donated, according to Shaun Samuels, managing director at consulting firm SGS, the company behind this street shop.
“It is feel-good stories like this one that make us happy, because they ultimately empower people to do more for themselves instead of submitting to their current lifestyles.”
The concept has gained global momentum, with street stores popping up in places as far afield as Brussels and Kuala Lumpur.
Olwethu Sizani, operations manager for SGS and leader of the church’s youth circle, spearheaded the idea after hearing about it on the radio.
“Many people are looking for a place to give back to, and this creates the platform to do just that,” Sizani said.
Thekiso, who has been a minister at the church for about two years, is hoping to harness its advantageous location at the centre of two vastly different worlds by seeing The Street Store open for business annually.
“You are looking at the contrast between Yeoville and Houghton,” she said.
“How would we get Houghton involved in terms of getting people to donate clothes?”
Like Molo, Thekiso values the way the concept provides agency for a group of people who are often deprived of such decision-making opportunities.
“It is a freedom – a form of financial freedom – when you get to just come in, look at the clothes and choose what you want,” she said.
At just seven years old, Samuels’ son, Matthew, was keen to volunteer.
“I am in Grade 2 and my dad got me involved today. I really enjoy it and like being in charge of stuff. I am going to be handing out the oranges at the fruit stand today, and that’s so cool,” he enthused.
Other volunteers shared similar sentiments about being able to give back.
“It is amazing to see people coming through, to see how grateful and happy they are,” said volunteer Anda Mqai.
“It is different because they get to walk around and choose their own items, so it makes you feel good because they feel good.
