Meet Penni! Our North Fitzroy store coordinator

Hi, I’m Penni Coillet. I started with SHM around 7-8 years ago as a volunteer at our fantastic Fitzroy shop. Since then I’ve worked across most of our stores as a casual and part-time employee, then a store manager and now area manager (with a brilliant new store!)

For the last four weeks it’s been a crazy mixture of packing, unpacking, setting up, decision making, collecting, cleaning, losing things and finding them again, collaborating with lots of different people, and finally opening this incredible shop!

Normally, in my role as area manager, I do all the things a Store Manager would do, as well as provide support for several other Store Managers. I currently look after the Coburg, Bentleigh and Cheltenham stores, so I’m on the road a bit too.

Absolutely the people! Staff, volunteers, customers. And also the participants that we’re here to support through the services that SHM provides. I’m really proud that our sale profits go directly into those services and into making a difference. I would find it very difficult to work anywhere else.

But don’t get me wrong, I do also love finding strange and wonderful things as we wade through donations!

Since we opened, the enthusiasm of the local community has been incredible! It’s been a very warm welcome. Prior to the store opening, I would say the highlight was the way everyone worked together so well to achieve a fantastic setup. It was an enormous undertaking, and it’s genuinely satisfying to look around the shop and feel like we’ve been here for years.

I’m just really grateful to have finally found a role that I love, in an organization that contributes meaningfully to the community. Those two things are pretty special.