Article in Community Newsletter News on ICE (Inner City East)
As well as running the ICEcycles workshops, Robin helps with deliveries between Tiny Wardrobe and its parent store on Worcester St.
Is it a beautiful garden? Shops with bargains? A friendly community hub? Yes, Tiny Shops Village is all of them.
This surprising oasis is quietly slotted midway along the Linwood Village shopping strip on Stanmore Rd. Have you noticed it?
If you were passing by on a Thursday it would be harder to miss. Flocks of cyclists circle Tiny Shops Village – testing out repairs made during the workshop, run by ICEcycles. There is also, on every second Thursday, the enormous Christchurch City Council mobile library bus pulled up out front. By late afternoon both are replaced with a gazebo and slender flume of bbq smoke, as Vivs cooks up Filipino specialties – for her loyal customers and for new ones who can’t resist the aroma.
We’ve loved having Jan-Hai and the Christchurch City Library Outreach team visit us weekly since Spring 2019.
People are finding lots of reasons to wander in throughout the week. Kathleen comes in with her mother Joan for a coffee and chat. Craig checks on the grape vine that he’s adopted and is training to grow along the front fence, trying a technique suggested by James. Martin brings his grandsons to run around in the playground. It’s here that a mystery artist frequently leaves new painted rocks. Mel likes to check out the book shop and op shop for bargains for her twin toddlers when they are at preschool.
Val kindly volunteers at Tiny Shops’ café on those busy Thursdays. Gary and Tepi lend a hand when there is heavy lifting to do. Barbara comes on her cargo bike to borrow books from the library bus and joins in on whatever creative workshop is on. Her son Chris has started to come in regularly to help care for Tiny Shops’ “Koha Garden”. James, Alan and Lucina all regularly stop-in at Tiny Shops on their long walks around town. Jenny generously donates food weekly to the community food pantry and collects some yummy items in exchange. When he does come in, Shane likes to hang out for most of the day having great chats with whoever is around.
Ting comes for the ICEcycles workshops and also joins (and creates!) other events at Tiny Shops. She is an excellent cook! 
Mike often assists with the ICEcycles workshops. Here he’s donating a tree for the Koha Garden. 
Michelle loves being involved with the garden and checking out what’s new in the Shops. 
Deano pops in when he’s in the area. 
Some of the Tiny Shops’ staffs’ tamariki regularly come visit and play.
It’s hard to believe that not long ago this place was just another weed infested, rubble strewn vacant block. Imagination, sweat and resources from a lot of determined locals and organisations have made this beautiful space a reality. The site was officially opened in June with the arrival of the 6th and final Tiny Shop building. Making the place come alive with people has been the next step.
People are now breathing life into it and taking the opportunity to nurture each other. Bahija is a cook. She loves the Community Food Pantry at Tiny Shops and wanted to share her skill. “Care to Share” she calls it. With the staff at Tiny Shops and mainly using food donated to the food pantry or grown in the Tiny Shops Garden, she presented a cooking workshop and community feast. She gave an insight to Moroccan culture and inspired more people to “Care to Share” at Tiny Shops. Carmel helped people make her cloth bags, Ting cooked up dumplings and shared photos and music from Taiwan and Izzy shared a fraction of her creative nous in a Denim Restyling workshop.
Tiny Shops Village is a place where it is easy to be generous and kind to each other. Everyone is welcome and you can listen and be listened to. You can get to know the people in our neighbourhood. And feel reenergised by nature, some caffeine, a chat, a light bit of retail therapy, or by trying something new. It is a nice place because of the beautiful environment, and it is growing into a great place because of the people who come in and exchange with each other their time, food, expertise or good company.
Shelby is our unofficial resident artist!
She often spends several hours sketching and having coffees out the front of Tiny Shops.
More than fifty people came down to Tiny Shops to celebrate her birthday this year.
Hope you come and check it out! 108 Stanmore Rd is the address. You are welcome in the garden any time and the Tiny Shops are open Tuesday – Saturday 10am-2pm. The events calendar is posted on the noticeboard out front. You can also follow Tiny Shops on Facebook/TinyShopsVillage.
