Good evening, guys.
I swear I just moved the clothes over there then, and a butterfly came out.
Which you don't see butterflies in the night, do you?
It's all over there.
They definitely want to morph.
It's too colourful.
Right, so we've been busy.
We've got part of the sign up.
I've got to cover the other bit, so that coming, Andy.
Thank you to my volunteers, because they're helping in the day and the nights now.
So, we've condensed this.
Screwed it together.
So it takes up less room.
Got the cabinets in.
Too many by you and I.
We've got everyone to build.
There's too many there.
We've put the stuff in the cabinets.
We've done some pricing.
Pricing is a legal requirement, guys.
So I'm going to keep it just me, Dan and Sammy at the moment, alright?
Because the pricing isn't coming out how I want it to look.
And it looks bad on this label.
So, leave it to us at the moment, any of the pricing.
So anybody else in any of the other shops, if you know me, Sammy or Daniel, don't do any pricing, okay?
Don't forget, everything needs to be cleaned before we put out as well.
We've had a few things tonight.
Look, it's got to be cleaned, okay?
So yeah, we've been busy, as you can see.
Everybody have.
We've got quite a bit of children's clothes down here now.
Still got a bit to go up.
We forgot to put the wool up.
We've got one rail of wool so I think that wool will probably go up out of the way.
I'm still here because I'm still pricing a bit.
We've started clearing this room now with boutique clothes because we were just storing them in there.
Because we're ready now to kit this room out.
So they've been stored properly now.
Kit this room out now with shelves, etc.
Yes, I think these are on.
They are now secure so we need another one to go over there.
So that's great.
And then obviously the washing has been done.
So that's got rid of that pile there.
The pile of doom has gone.
So yeah, it's just putting stuff back together now.
But I can't believe how much we've gone in this little shop.
You know, because it did look a little didn't it?
So we've pushed the counter back at the moment.
Make that nice and tidy.
I don't know what we're going to do with Blackwood Shop.
I don't know if I'm going to stay there any longer or go.
You're going to chase up some of the shops.
Chase them up weekly now.
To see where they're at.
But you're going to have to make a decision soon guys.
Because you're just not going to get the tenants there anymore unfortunately.
You're just not going to get it.
I mean you might get tenants in.
But they're not going to be able to make...
If they're a business they're not going to make a profit.
The profit with us is tangible isn't it?
The bills are paid, the profit goes into the food bank.
We haven't got any wages to come out.
You know, sometimes we do have petrol expenses or bus fare to pay.
Which we do, which I will pay.
If somebody's a worker I will pay it.
But obviously that isn't a...
That isn't a lot.
We don't spend a lot.
We've probably spent more this month than any of the other months.
Because we've been busy doing this one haven't we?
So...
I think we're getting there now.
I'm really pleased because...
It's only...
Apart from the windows, it's only really cheaper stuff now that's left in Blackford.
And it's on 75% all week.
It'll be open tomorrow.
Pontypool is open all day tomorrow.
So...
Chloe left her stuff.
Left her stuff Chloe.
Yeah, so the guy didn't come back down tonight.
Because he has been around in the evenings.
The nuisance is down here.
So hopefully the message has gone.
Well you're not going to be in here anyway.
We're not going to serve you for any more stuff anyway.
Because you're a nuisance.
So you've been a nuisance since I've been here.
So you're done.
As far as I'm concerned.
Yeah, things like this.
I don't need to go in a cabinet.
Too much.
Writing on here.
I don't know where you should be writing labels.
It needs to be clear as well.
That looks like £1,500.
Probably £1,500.
Oh, it's fighting stuff it is.
Oh yeah, please.
No for stuff in it guys.
I've got some lovely donations in as well.
I've got some bags up there.
I don't know if they're closed.
You've dropped off cars and gas.
I don't know.
I don't really know where they've come from.
I can't stand anything up straight tonight.
I'm just going to sit up where there I am.
See, that should be in a cabinet.
We're getting out.
We're smack bang in the middle of moving everything.
Everything's everywhere in there.
We've got lots to do.
I feel a million times better.
Now.
You know.
I'm so pleased that we've got this shop and it's come up.
Honestly, sometimes things like that, everything happens for a reason.
It's such a pleasant shop to be in.
It really is.
It's a completely different atmosphere.
Blackwood shop.
Idiots we've had out there.
Over the last year and a half, honestly.
Everybody's been lovely here.
I mean, we've had one, but you're always going to get one, you know.
Because they're banned from every other charity and second hand shops.
And they try it on as soon as you open one.
So obviously, you know, you're always going to get one down here.
But you won't come in again.
Because we've told them straight now, that's it.
You're done.
I will not have you shouting and swearing at my staff.
I'm going to shut who you are like, you know.
You're done.
You won't be in here again.
And we don't even ask to buy anything from the door.
Because the answer will be no.
So leave the pricing to us now, guys.
Right?
Everybody.
That's all our volunteers across the board.
Because the labels are not coming out as they should be.
And pricing is a legal requirement.
Alright, so that's why we've taken it off.
Or that's why we say to people, don't price.
Because sometimes it causes more problems than leaving it all to me.
You know, and even people who we have pricing, sit by me and do the pricing.
I'll check with me all day on prices as well.
I've got a funny feeling that dish is part of a set.
And the set should be with it on that plate.
But we'll have to check that.
I mean, we've only just moved them down here today, haven't we?
So, I'm quite confident we've sold quite a few bits through in Blackwood.
We've had good feedback from the twat that came in and was videoing us and screaming at us and all the rest of it.
We've had good feedback saying she was buying out of order and you've done the right thing.
Well, of course I've done the right thing.
I can't have idiots like that around kids and pregnant mothers.
Simple as.
You know.
And a lot of people saying, yeah, you know, no wonder she turned up for a fight and she got put out on her ass.
So, she deserved it.
And at least the police couldn't be bothered with that.
I've got to put down a minute.
Pour the Pepsi Max.
Keep me going.
So, we've had a good response with that.
We've had a good response with moving from Blackwood as well.
I mean, we're still here.
We're still here.
We are, you know, regardless of what people are saying, we are being evicted.
You know, I mean, they were there today trying to say, well, no, no, no, stay, stay, stay.
Well, no, I'm, there's some, you know, some emails I've had and some messages I've had.
And I'm being like, no, don't feel right to me.
So, go, go, we get instincts sometimes of new.
And like I said, I'd love to wake up tomorrow and have Wilkinsons or another shop.
But sometimes you've got to wait.
Sometimes you've got to wait, haven't you?
So, I don't think it's going to be much longer for a shop because they go in like dominoes.
You know, and it's sad.
It's sad to see all these businesses going in.
When you start seeing hairdressers and beauty shops and food businesses go, you know there's a problem.
And you need to think, you need to think tenant.
Your tenant needs to be your priority as a landlord.
And, you know, you need to think, I'm either going to lose my tenant now over a couple of hundred quid.
Or I'm going to have a tenant that's going to ride the storm with me.
And this is what this landlord did.
He rang us and said, right, I'd rather you hear than not.
I've seen, I've been watching you online.
I've seen your followers.
He's like, all right, you've seen that lot of you.
You've seen everything that goes down online.
Yeah, he said you've got a social media presence and that's what you need today.
And he's right.
He's 100% right, you know.
He's looked at it and he's gone, yeah, I need, I need someone in there.
Otherwise I'm going to have an empty shop.
So I think if you're a landlord anyway, you really, really need to think now about your shops.
I don't know how all these sweet shops keep going because they're quite expensive in there.
You know, you'd be better off like, well, I suppose they've got a kid's trade, I suppose, don't they?
Like these dessert parlors, like, I don't know how they're making a lot of money.
Well, I mean, I probably spend a blooming half a grand a year on candy floss.
Probably myself.
Not to mention everything else.
I think I got a candy floss in the kitchen.
Oh, an empty shop over there.
Oh, didn't see that one down the bottom.
They're filling up quite a bit.
But then you've got to think that at least half of the stock here has been sat in Blackwood for a while and hasn't sold.
So time to move it around in there.
Oh, I didn't shut the door.
I can hear somebody walking outside.
But I'll potter around for a bit now and see what we can get done.
And then we'll see what we... because I'm going to need more prices, right, because I can't keep up with it, right?
So, you know, I'm here day and night now.
It's ridiculous.
Or in a shop day and night.
So we will do, I think, let's get ourselves sorted now because we've got to square up Blackwood shop tomorrow because obviously we moved some stuff.
So we've pulled a lot of stuff out and stuff reformed from behind cupboards and whatnot.
So we've got to square Blackwood shop up, square this shop up, which is coming along, I think.
It don't need much to it.
It don't need much work.
And then Pontypool is still ticking over.
The girls are doing well over there.
Like I said, if you're slagging off one of our shops, you're not slagging me off because I don't do the cleaning and I don't do the tidying up.
Primarily, my job is to source the stock, commodities, and price.
And I literally check it in boxes like that for the staff to work.
That's being priced, finding home for that.
You know, that's literally my job.
So if you're slagging off the state of our shops and you're only slagging off the volunteer mothers as trying to help other mothers,
I'm not happy with the window.
What can we do with the window?
I'm not happy with it.
Like I said, putting glass cabinets in the window.
Maybe we'll do that.
Maybe that'll look better from the outside anyway.
The trouble is if you baby-fy the window, then you only get baby customers in.
And it's the other customers that help support us as well, isn't it?
You know, the ones that come in and buy china or the ones that come in and buy books.
So, you know, we try not to baby-fy the windows too much.
It wasn't Taff Wells, was it?
The other day I had a family in that wanted to buy baby clothes.
It was somewhere else.
Taff Wells is only down the road, really, from here.
Talbot Green.
Where's that?
Where's Talbot Green?
They came from Talbot Green to come here.
So, that was nice of them.
Need to shop in Talbot Green, obviously.
I've had some Blackwood staff and Pontypool staff over here tonight to give us a hand.
What's those bags for their cars?
Are they to go out?
Have you brought those ones in to be worked?
Those black bags of clothes, because I don't know where they've come from.
Let me know and then I can do something about it.
I'm trying to get as much priced as I can.
And then square it up, because then at least if people come in and they see something in a box, that's something else gone.
That's the way I always look at it.
Pontypool Phase 3 is on hold a little bit.
I need glasses on.
I haven't got my glasses on.
Neil Lantwick Major.
Where's Lantwick Major?
Yes, to the close.
Right, okay.
I don't know where Lantwick Major is.
Where's that?
Right, okay, yeah.
Okay, so they just got to be sorted then into pound or not.
Okay, well we've made room in our back room.
So the idea is now, I can't try to think what cabinets I've got.
A Blackwood shop.
Probably about three or four more that I'd want to bring down here.
Ready to kit out the back room.
I think.
And then I need one bookshelf to go on that section.
And then I need to get Dawny down here.
To set up the book section.
Ready for the bookies to come in.
We'd have to bring her down one day.
Once the book section is set up, see, it's easy to maintain.
But Dawn likes to do it anyway, so she'll just jump on the bus and come around and do it, you know.
Tired a bit now, but I've got some sugar and I've got some candy floss.
And I've still got curry, rice and chips.
I've still got half, no, curry, rice and chips.
And chicken.
It's lovely.
From down the shop and down the road.
And I can't remember what they're called, but they're lovely.
Really nice food.
And everybody knows Chloe, so we like, they all give her extra.
So we're like, quick Chloe, get in there.
Let me give her a sec.
So that's lovely.
Thank you very much.
So yes, I don't, so I think Pontypool, Blackwood, definitely open tomorrow.
Blackwood's on 75% off.
Pontypool 50 and they're doing their abidashary bags for tenner.
And we're chucking pound clothes in there as well to try and clear some of the textiles.
Give them a hand, you know, because that horrible, horrible person was slagging off the state of the shop.
You know.
So that gives them a hand to clear it out, really.
I think if you're dragging ever women down, then, you know, just a waste of space anyway, you know.
I think, I think she proved that, haven't she?
Yeah, so they'll be open.
And kafidi's going to be a bit intermittent because I think we're going to move some more cat.
I'm trying to think what I've got to go in our room.
We could do with glass cabinets in our room so that the door is...
We can hear the doors being opened, you know, if somebody's going in the cabinet.
We usually say ask the staff if you're going in the cabinet.
But then we'll be able to use the doors.
But I tell you what's annoying with these ones is look at the wasted space in them all.
And to buy the perspex shelves is really expensive.
So if you've got any plate racks that go across like this, you know, it's like a little wire shelf or any of those little plastic shelves that you don't want.
If we could have those because, you know, we can't maximize the glass cabinet space, but obviously it can't be too heavy, can they?
Um...
Tired.
Tired, but I'll put her on, I think, guys, get some done.
Get the candy floss down me now.
Do a bit more and then go from there, perhaps.
What?
Oh, yes, please.
I've got my glasses on, I can't see anything.
The racks.
Oh, yes.
Yeah.
Anime.
Can I check?
Can I get back to you?
There might be anime in the front window.
And there's definitely a few anime things, Kate, in Pontypool.
I can get them to put pictures on tomorrow.
I missed anybody else's thing then.
Do what?
Oh, no, I've lost it now.
Near Landwick Major.
I don't know where Landwick Major is.
I'll have to look at the map.
I'll have to pull up the map.
They've got a retail, but I've never heard of Talbot Green.
What county is it in?
Or is it Landwick Major county?
I don't know.
I don't know.
They'll have to let me know.
Right, let's see where I can get done then, is there?
Knee is bad.
I think it's wearing off.
It might be because I'm doing more than usual.
Because obviously if I'm in Pontypool, I'm sat down pricing all day and I'm checking it in the box and the girls are sorted out.
But obviously we're doing a lot more.
A lot more driving as well.
Could be that.
Could be the end.
When did I have the last injection?
What are we June?
I can't remember when I had it.
I'll have to go back on my calendar, but I think it's wearing off now.
Volunteers, if you can just go to Blackwood as normal.
Just go to Blackwood as normal.
Because like I said, I'm waiting on a couple of responses for leases in different shops.
But I'm confident now that if a lease...
if they ring me in the morning and say, yeah, yeah, you can have this one.
Come and sign the lease.
Then I've got half of it here and half of it ready for the next shop.
Because, you know, the next shop is going to probably be smaller.
You know, if I go, you know, if I'm lucky, I'll get the one that I want, which is a bit bigger.
It's two floors.
So it'll be bigger.
But then we've got to carry stuff down so there's no one out there with me.
But we'll still have a lot of work because we'll have to set at the CCTV.
So it's going to be at least another week to get that shop in a shape in it.
And then if one doesn't come up and I decide to close Blackwood until one comes up for the price that I want it.
Then I haven't got massive amounts of stuff to store in the donation centre.
I'm really pleased with what's left in Blackwood, to be honest.
I really am.
There's probably more here than what's in Blackwood shop.
So that's good.
But get up there because it's going to be on 75% all week because I'd rather do that than have to shift it all.
Because it is hard work to shift everything, you know.
We've done it a few times now, haven't we?
And like I said, it would be so much easier if a shop came up because we could just wheel the green racks down the hill to one of the shops, you know, and just use the trolleys.
Ask Iceland, borrow a couple of trolleys probably and wheel it down and then anything that's like big like this, chuck it in the back of the car and go in there.
So,
but like I said, I'm not comfortable there at the moment.
So, I'm not comfortable there.
It's not going to work with this new landlord.
You've got to feel secure of new.
If it's in the back of your mind all the time, things that's been said, it's like, you know, I mean, I don't really want to go into it because it can't be bothered really, you know.
I'm sure the heaters will make up some random stories, but there's lack of footfall.
I wasn't impressed with electric not being sorted and then being pushed over to pay a £200 bill and then an £800 bill and then being asked to pay an insurance that isn't in my lease to pay.
And then to have messages, you know, emails and social media messages that I felt were leaning on me to stay there when I'm not happy to stay there and trying to, you know, put on that I was going to be causing them a lot of problems if I left financially.
Well, I got enough to worry about myself financially, you know, running all of this lot.
I can't be worrying about other people, you know, the you know, the footfall isn't as good as it was where we are.
And I think that's down to cost of living, shop shut in there, bus fares going up, it comes to, you know, food going up, you know, people, you know, I mean, food has gone up and the quality of the food has gone down as well, you know, because I've said I'm not going to eat no more from a certain shop of meat because I don't know what I had in the meat the other day,
but it was disgusting myself.
So, you know, you either bite the bullet and you buy the cheaper food or you end up with
you having to buy the dearer food because it's the better quality, don't you?
It's a combination of everything with footfall.
There's nothing we can do about it.
You know, we always knew it would be a problem up around there, so we need to be on the high street.
Simple as that.
We know that this shop isn't the way we want it, but I'm quite surprised how many people come up and down this road, Pentriban Street.
There's quite a lot of people actually come up and down here and cars.
You know, we're lucky really because we're next to a little minimart, we're next to a hardware shop and then there's a couple of fast food places which they only open in the evening.
But yeah, I thought this street was completely closed.
I thought, oh god, we're going to be the only ones down here, but actually we're not.
So, you'd be surprised how many people walk up and down here.
So, I'm going to add some sugar.
Keep me going in there.
Shouldn't be.
Bad view.
Not very good for me.
I'm off chocolate at the moment.
Right off chocolate.
Chocolate is in cake.
Right off them.
Funny, you know.
Into sugar and sweets.
Had nice sandwiches again yesterday.
Ah, today and yesterday.
From next door.
But not that sandwich I had again with all the bits in.
That was nice, that was.
I had cheese and branson today.
That was lovely.
I had cheese and branson.
I had McDonald's for breakfast.
Because I didn't eat it as well.
Then we had chicken chips and rice.
And then tonight.
And then half a pound of sugar.
Two candy flosses.
Oh, Turkish delight ice cream.
I've got to have one of them if I come down here.
From the dessert parlour.
Oh, and then sandwich.
I think that's it.
I've been going around to different shops.
Because they all have different prices on their candy floss.
I found one down below.
It should have to be a tub.
Right, I'm going to have to go guys.
My battery is going.
Right, if I don't see you guys.
I'll see you on Facebook.
