St Vincent de Paul Society, Vinnies, shops across the state are reopening with new health precautions and policies to adhere to COVID-19 regulations.
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Vinnies Goulburn is now open Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Meanwhile, the Crookwell shop will reopen on September 14 on Monday and Tuesday. The Braidwood shop will remain closed for now.
Lindsay Rae, director of centres Canberra and Goulburn, said, as volunteer numbers increase both Goulburn and Crookwell Vinnies will increase trading days.
"The Braidwood shop is not ready to reopen yet, one of our biggest concerns is that it is a transient store, it has a lot of people coming to visit from around the country."
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COVID-19 regulations require the mostly volunteer organisation to rely on paid staff to ensure policies and procedures are in place before returning to usual operating hours, while many managers have had to work across the region.
Stores will reopen with volunteers as well as paid staff, Mr Rae said. However, it is uncertain how many volunteers will return to assist with retail operations. People and their families are concerned about COVID-19 exposure, he said, many volunteers fall into the high-risk age category, however, there has been a lot of enquiries.
"Until we open we won't know how many we have on board," he said.
The Crookwell shop will open for both sales and donations, donated items will then be quarantined for 72 hours before being processed.