London has everything. So why does it still need a scrapstore?

You can buy almost anything in London within the hour. Craft supplies included. So a reasonable person might ask what a scrapstore on the Hazelhurst Estate in Tooting adds to a city like this.

Here’s our answer, from more than 35 years of doing it.

We stock what the city throws away

Every week, businesses across London finish a job with materials left over: card from a print run, fabric from a fit-out, plastics, foam, wood, tubes, tiles, ribbon, the odd crate of something wonderful nobody can quite explain. Most of it would go to landfill. We collect it, sort it, and put it on our shelves. Around 60 tonnes a year, give or take, and every kilogram of it is something a shop would never have thought to sell you.

Variety you can’t order

A shop stocks what sells. We stock what arrives. That’s why an art student, a theatre company and a nursery can all leave with bags full and none of them wanted the same thing. A community theatre company who use us for costumes, props and scenery describe the store as a “magical, mythical place” providing “incredible materials, that would otherwise end up in the bin”. Their philosophy is rich theatre by little means. Ours is much the same.

A price that lets you experiment

Because we rescue rather than buy, most of what you see is free to members, with a small charge for a few items. That changes how people make. You can try the ambitious idea, and the ridiculous one, and the one that fails, because failing barely costs you anything. Creativity needs that permission, and a city this expensive rarely grants it.

People, not just shelves

Our volunteers, around 50 of them, sort everything that comes in, fill the shelves and greet everyone who comes through the door. One of them says she likes sitting on reception “meeting people”, that it “gets me out and gives me a sense of purpose”. A scrapstore is a room full of that too.

Come and see for yourself

We’re in Tooting, open on set days each month. Members shop; anyone can visit once and have a look around. Bring a bag and an open mind.