A team from the Potting Shed shop at Ransoms has won the inaugural Great Acorn Reuse Bargain Hunt.
Helen Bourke and Kay Mallet (shown in the main picture) bought items worth £93 and made £324.
Thirteen teams of two competed in the challenge, having shopped at Acorn on 25th June. They were given half an hour before the store opened to the public to find items up to the value of £100, and then they had four weeks to make as much money as possible however they liked, by upcycling, auctioning or just reselling.
The Potting Shed team, Ready Sheddy Go, found that their biggest profit came from a £1 bear, which they raffled. This brought in £60.
They also customised items, including a denim jacket which they embroidered with sequins and ribbons, which sold for more than three times its buying price. They also cut up a £4 necklace to make bracelets which sold for £23.
Helen said: ‘We really enjoyed the challenge and we’d recommend it to anyone. And we had a lot of support from our lovely customers at the Potting Shed.’
Bobby Dazzler awards, created by the Acorn Woodshack, were also given out to teams from Magellan Consultancy, Investec and KPMG.
Magellan Maximisers did some seriously good upcycling. One item that they upcycled was a chair (see the before and after photos below). It was bought for £10, sold for £100 – a 900% profit. They also added value by pairing plants with a copper pan and a teapot.
Collins & Scott Antique Experts from Investec received a Bobby Dazzler award for their strategy in lining up a buyer before the event. They made £150 by selling their items in one job lot to someone for their new home.
And the KPMG team subtly changed four pictures, making them more vibrant or interesting. There was one where a UFO was added. It was bought for £2 and sold for £30.
Acorn also allocated a ‘Del Boy’ prize, which went to Park Recruitment for their enthusiasm in entering three teams. They closed the office for the morning and they stayed at Acorn well beyond breakfast.
Acorn’s fundraising manager Caroline Spencer said: “We loved how everyone came up with something different. The ideas have been amazing and showed such creativity and enthusiasm. We hope to make this an annual event as it’s been great fun.
“Some people wanted to hold bigger events in order to sell their items but were hampered by Covid. They will continue to upcycle and sell beyond the competition’s deadline. Some businesses have kindly matched what their teams made, and once all sales have been completed, we will be in a position to say how much was raised overall.”
