Located at site 17 in Amaroo Park, the Lifeline Furniture Shed is the welfare organisation’s first new south-west retail outlet for several years.

Business operations manager Cliff Heath said there was a strong market for quality second-hand furniture, but there was no space in the regular retail stores to have it displayed properly.

“Having access to a large shed in Warrnambool will be a perfect venue for us,” Mr Heath said.

“Experience shows that if furniture is displayed well it will sell well.

“We’ve always sold a reasonable amount of furniture like all not-for-profits (agencies) do, but we’ve been restricted by the footprint in our stores.

“It’s always been the plan to display it better and to price keenly because we’re keen to get the turnover happening and fresh stock coming through.”

Mr Heath said Lifeline volunteers were sorting through donated furniture to ensure good-quality items are available.

“Lifeline receives about 185 tonnes of material through our warehouse each year and we can use about 145 tonnes of that. We encourage people to only donate good-quality items for resale,” he said.

“We see ourselves as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative that saves a lot of items from going to landfill.”

Lifeline will consider adding other products such as rugs, soft furnishings and electrical appliances once the shed has established its market.

The shed will be manned by volunteers and will open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10am to 4pm and 9.30am to 1.30pm on Saturdays.

Mr Heath said more volunteers were always welcome. He can be contacted on 5559 0555.