A rural Op Shop has maintained its coveted gold star rating by having at least one paperback copy of Sara Henderson’s autobiography on the shelves. The relatively unknown criteria is part of 10 top secret features that Op Shops must possess in order to be accepted in the exclusive gold star club.

A local Op Shop insider told The Watsonia Bugle that the 10 key features were mostly a well-guarded secret, but volunteers spent plenty of time trying to unlock the riddle. The anonymous source said, “Yeah, I mean, we think we know at least a couple of them, but I’ve heard they change a couple of times each year just to keep the shops on their toes. Kind of the like the Google search rankings and the mysterious social media newsfeed algorithms.”

Despite that apparent secrecy, the source claimed they could tell us with 95% accuracy that stocking Sara Henderson’s top-selling book was a regular component of the 10. They said, “If an Op Shop doesn’t have at least one copy of From Strength to Strength, they’re wasting their time. It’s an absolute must-have.”

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