Little Shop of Horrors

Some weeks ago now, I was in the New World supermarket in Thorndon with a friend. There was a large display of Little Shop accessories. For the uninitiated, Little Shop are wee replicas of grocery items that were given away with New World groceries - one for each $40 spent, I believe.

The friend's son was collecting these, and so we knew some of the accessories would add to his fun. There was the shop itself, a supermarket trolley, a cash register, scales and a wee tin for storing the collection.

My friend was pleased to see the display because the local Hutt store had run out of these items. She bought two, from memory a tin and a cash register, and the total was somewhere in the region of $11. On the way home she mentioned there was a lot of activity on TradeMe with people buying and selling Little Shop items. I checked when I got home, and sure enough it was going crazy. The same two items were listed as an auction, and had already reached $52. I considered going back, stocking up and making my fortune, but lethargy got in the way and by all accounts word soon got out that one supermarket still had accessories. By the next day all was gone. This did set me thinking, however. If people were so keen to buy Little Shop at inflated prices, then could all those stickers I was getting from Countdown, to buy cut price cutlery I didn't want, have any value? A check on TradeMe and definitely - yes!

A few of us are now clubbing together. The last sale of two sheets of stickers sold for $38. The current sheet is showing a lot of interest so far, and we have another ready to list. This is an amusing diversion, which is funding a few coffees along the way as we marvel at it all. And remember, it's not too late to spend a lot of money so you can save a lot of money to buy that lovely cutlery you didn't even know you wanted until Countdown told you you did. 

I really must watch Little Shop of Horrors again soon. It really is a great musical. In the meantime, enjoy the dentist scene!