Head High Disability Service’s Big Happy Shop has opened, but with a slow first week, hopes are high of a stronger community showing this Wednesday, 20 November from 10.45am-2.45pm.
A handful of customers followed the sound of live jazz music played by Mary into St Matthew’s Courtyard on Wednesday 13 November. They experienced the stall’s best homemade and locally sourced products. Expect more of the same this Wednesday.
Julie Ross-Edwards, founder of Head High, said it was heartwarming to have customers take interest in the store and encourage the workers, however, with all the hard work the Head Highers put in, more love would be appreciated.
“We’ve done pretty good for our first day of opening,” Julie shared.
“We’ve had some wonderful customers in but we would love more support. Thank you to those who supported us on our opening day. We’ve made quite a few sales for our wonderful local sellers, and the profits will go to Wounded Heroes Australia.”
Head High provides young adults living with a disability the opportunity to learn valuable skills which could be used to acquire long-term employment.
The Big Happy Shop wasn’t just a turn-up and hope-for-the-best initiative. The Head Highers put months of preparation into the project, not only creating their own products but sourcing some from various vendors around the Northern Beaches and Lower North Shore.
The crew have also been working with and donating all profits from the store to Wounded Heroes Australia, a 24/7 crisis support service for ADF members, veterans and their families.
Jemma Pigott, the NSW/ACT State Manager at Wounded Heroes, said the support from the Big Happy Shop comes at a much-needed time.
“Sadly, Remembrance Day and Anzac Day are peak times for our crisis line. They can be very triggering for veterans who are struggling. We also experience peaks in the build-up to Christmas. These are all times that can be really triggering for veterans who are lonely and isolated,” she said.
“We are so grateful for the Head Highers. I also do casual disability support work with a really bright young man with autism called Matt. We’ve been making these beautiful Poppy necklaces and Poppy pins. We’re hoping to expand our merchandise and the Head Highers are selling our products here today.”
Head Higher, Joon, played both salesman and marketer as he manned various stalls and used his best sales pitch to encourage as many people in the Corso to come and visit the store.
The last time we saw Joon, he was concocting various tea flavours in preparation to sell. Having achieved this, he was manning the Sticky Pot Jam stall, crowning blueberry as his favourite flavour. Manly Observer took home a Double Burn Chilli after some persuasive sales tactics.
Another Head Higher, Nat, had her expectations capped. She shared her experience of the group’s last venture, The Big Happy Cafe, that the first day can be a little slow.
“My store is selling bracelets and necklaces and some crochets, and they’re from separate shops. The bracelets and the necklaces are from the from Seriously Twisted Jewellery and these are from Alison Thompson’s Crochets,” Nat explained.
“It’s the first day, and we’ll just see how the first day goes because sometimes the first day can be a bit slow, but we’ll see as we go.”
When Manly Observer last spoke to Head Higher, Stella, she was crafting homemade bookmarks with Nat, to great success. Now done with the manufacturing side of things, she had moved on to her salesmanship skills, selling items from local vendors.
“This is from Mosman News Agency, we are selling stuff from them. And this is Christine’s Apothecary. So it’s like diffusers, candles, sets for the toilet, Fizz A Loos they’re called and candles,” she said.
Manly Observer further decided to manufacture some ‘happy vibes’ by setting up a booth where customers could tell a happy story in 90 seconds or less. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many customers to cater for this, but there were still a few that brought a smile to our dial.
One older gentleman retold how he described meeting a beautiful woman just outside of St Matthew’s Church decades ago. Just two weeks after asking her on a date, the pair were married inside the same church where they met. They are still together today.
Pop down this Wednesday if you have a story you would like to tell Manly Observer.
Another man, Bruce, said he had no intention of visiting the store today but was glad he did. He was not only able to purchase some moustache balm, but he also learned some helpful advice on where to get his moustache trimmed after previously having second thoughts about his bushy facial hair.
“The moustache, I can change it now with the balm and know where to get it trimmed, I think this is going to change my lifestyle entirely,” Bruce laughed.
Jemma from Wounded Heroes also shared her happy experience of being able to work alongside the Head Highers.
“I’m our national charity’s only NSW-based employee, I’ve just come off the back of, I think I’ve had an activation every second day from the last week. And the Head Highers here today have just helped me out so much,” she said.
“Joon did amazing. He did the first sale of the day, and that was one of our Poppy necklaces. So we had a massive high-five. And that just made my day.”
Although the store was off to a slow start, it was a nice first-day practice run for the Head Highers who still pulled off some sales. But, they are eager for more.
“They’ve done a brilliant job. They’re doing beautiful welcomes to the customers and enjoying selling such great products as well. So they’re using their product knowledge to sell. They’ve done very well, and they’re very excited to see more customers coming in.” Julie said.
“We’re also serving tea and sweet treats in the courtyard with our wonderful musician Mary, so people can come and relax as well as shop. And we just want the community’s support. And we’re hoping that we see lots of familiar faces from the Big Happy Cafe.”
Remember this story? Sad day as Big Happy Cafe sits empty
