Adele Hunter, Ed Wolfe, Gidon Levitas.

It ain't Macy's in New York, Selfridges in London or Woolworths anywhere, but for Netanya's ESRA volunteers it's big news at last. During the opening ceremony Nina Zuck and Aliza Marks disclosed to participants that they had been emailing each other about shop business under the subject: 'Harrods on Ha-notea St'.

A hard working quartet: Frank Garrun, Richard Stein, Ed Wolfe and Adele Hunter, undertook most of the advance planning and project oversight. With them, Netanya's volunteers recruited sponsors and a long list of very generous donors of goods and services. Almost a year of intensive preparatory work and a hectic last month countdown to opening day culminated in the new resale shop's official inauguration ceremony on July 14, a Tuesday, which in Hebrew is regarded as ‘pa-amayim kitov’ a double dose of good.

Located near the corner of Ha-Notea and Sha'ar Hagai streets near the Egged bus station, the shop is at a busy intersection and a new neighbor to restaurants, bistros, haberdasheries and clothing stores.

Based on ESRA's model enterprises in Raanana and Kfar Saba, pioneered by the late Motti Weiner, the nearly new shop is envisioned as an income generating project that seeks to raise revenues for ESRA's manifold welfare and community programs. The business plan is to keep overhead costs very low and achieve high turnover of donated second hand wares in good condition, which are sold at very attractive prices.

Nothing quite symbolizes the efforts invested in getting this show on the road than terminology used by Nina Zuck, ESRA's vice chairperson responsible for community projects and until recently Netanya branch chairperson. In committee sessions and email directives and correspondence about the shop, she invariably resorted to phrases and stark metaphors directly linked to N.A.S.A. initiatives and procedures, including 'we have lift-off', 'we're spot on target', 'let's keep on track', and 'mission accomplished'.

Observers might well have concluded that ESRA's Netanya committee seemed to be engaged in building and launching a space vessel atop a rocket. Fortunately, the command module had a select group of distinctly experienced volunteers in key roles for the task, particularly Frank Garrun who supervised and physically constructed and assembled the shop's interior furnishings together with Mervyn Zuck and other helpers.

Not rocket science but a careful choice of personnel, including manager Morris Maze and volunteer staff coordinator Aliza Marks, responsible for recruiting the roster of shop attendants, is an essential ingredient of success. Napoleon once scoffed that the British were 'a nation of shopkeepers'. ESRA's resale shops belie the derogatory tone of that surly remark because they operate for the benefit of the community. From now on, 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating' as far as Netanya's new shop is concerned. May it prosper and thrive.