CHECKERS Little Shop ultimate collector, Lee-Anne Mack, has certainly earned the titled – been there, done that, got the minis to show for it.

At her store in La Lucia – Macks Thrift Shack – there are hundreds of the little things in baskets, boxes and containers from Checkers Mini Shop collections one to four, which she has gathered from markets, charity shops, friends and family and from customers who have gifted her.

“I am a collector, not a hoarder,” said Mack and rather affirmatively, too. And of course, she has all four collections.

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“The craze started in 2016 when my daughter, Nikita, and I started collecting minis. She’s the reason why I started the collection, but Nikita has moved on, and the obsession stuck with me. I even asked her to join me in the photos for my media interviews, and she declined. ‘No, Mom, you’re on your own’.”

Mack now collects for her younger daughter, Donna, who loves helping her mom source the precious commodities that are missing from the collection from friends at school via swopping initiatives. Mack is hoping that her second side-kick collector doesn’t bite the dust like the first one did.

“A lot of people come in looking for the missing minis from their previous collections. Some just like a particular product while some want to complete a collection.

“I’ve found that parents are going to the end of the Earth to complete their children’s collections, but even an avid collector like myself would draw the line somewhere. I won’t pay hundreds or thousands of rand for the rare pink trolley unless it’s being auctioned for a good cause which some non-profits have done,” she said.

Speaking of the Discovery pink trolley, Mack managed to get her hands on one which she creatively turned into her necklace and proudly wears around her neck. Now she just has to be careful that ‘mini lunatics’ don’t corner her since so many are desperate to get one of these.

“My favourite collection is the mini shop 2. I love the zoo biscuits. From collection 4, I love the Yoco machine and the debit card. You can actually swipe the debit card in the machine,” she said.

That’s another thing, she says, that has added tremendously to the hype of the Checkers Little Shop 4 – the various functions of certain minis, such as scratch-and-sniff, glow-in-the-dark and sparkle.

“Checkers has been innovative with this last collection. Sadly, the promotion ended on November 10, but some stores ran out before. I will never stop collecting minis. It’s my happy place,” said Mack.

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