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Saanich's Garage Guru shows best things in life really are free

Free Store 2
Dave Shebib

Watching children go home happy is the biggest reward of operating a store where everything is free.“Recycling toys is probably the greatest joy that I get from (the Free Store), because people bring their kids and they can grab whatever they see,” said David Shebib, operator of reusable materials exchange on his property.As the “Garbage Guru,” Shebib offers a free pick-up service for any items he sees fit to display at the Free Store, located in his home at 5090 West Saanich Rd.Items unfit for the store are hauled away for recycling or disposal for a fee.In the five months since Shebib set up shop, he has seen the service’s client base grow.“It’s getting more and more popular all of the time,” he said. “If I bring a load of good stuff ... for that period it gets really busy.”Shebib, fighting against what he calls our throw-away society, would like to see his philosophy of re-use rather than disposal applied to all kinds of items around town. He hopes to one day start an exchange for people to trade cardboard boxes to try and keep more paper products from being added to the Hartland Landfill.When contacted by the News, neighbours near Shebib’s location did not express any concern about his service. However, if the free store becomes more and more popular, Shebib realizes he runs the risk of having his service rub someone in authority the wrong way.In the meantime, the Garbage Guru, or one of his employees, is on site daily to run the store. “I’m A-1,” Shebib said. “It’s fully legit, fully legal.”nnorth@saanichnews.com