Hot Pink Halo - Op shop

from SpinTunes 20 Round 1 by Spintunes

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about

Back in the 1920s, Millie Tallis coined the phrase "opportunity shop" as a moniker for a charity enterprise in Australia, borrowing the name from the French "magasin d’occasion" (translated as "bargain shop") bags she'd seen in Paris. The phrase can also be translated as "opportunity shop", an interpretation that could help eliminate the stigma of buying secondhand items.

Millie helped open the first "opportunity shop" in Fitzroy's Cyclorama, now the site of the St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne, with the goal to raise funds for new medical equipment for the hospital. Cycloramas were a precursor to the movies; the viewer would stand in a round or hexagonal building and look upon a panorama painting of big events from history.

Australians like to shorten words. "Opportunity shops" are commonly known as "op shops" or "the oppie", and when you go to one, you're "op shopping". At the shops. Op shop.

lyrics

Stuck in the past
Living in a cyclorama
Stand still and watch
As your world spins around
You might find
What you’ve lost
Turns into something
Ready to be found

What’s the opportunity cost?
It turns out, not a lot
When you’re out op shop shopping
When you’re out op shopping
Op shopping at the shops
Op shop

It moves quickly now
Living in the fashion fast lane
Searching for that
Sweet hit of dopamine
You might lose
What you need and
Never notice as you
Come apart at the seams

What’s the opportunity cost?
It turns out, not a lot
When you’re out op shop shopping
When you’re out op shopping
Op shopping at the shops
Op shop

They say real beauty is
On the inside
That remains to be seen
Throw us a bone for some
New to you threads
We’ll take a look on our
Brand spanking
X-ray machine

What’s the opportunity cost?
It turns out, not a lot
When you’re out op shop shopping
When you’re out op shopping
Op shopping at the shops
Op shop

credits

from SpinTunes 20 Round 1, released March 21, 2023

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