The Free Shop is a place where people give stuff to one another without the expectation of getting something back in return. Most of the stuff that gets brought to the shop has already been used before and is offered to others to be used again. Sometimes they may be new things, which have been discarded by shops, perhaps even surplus food. Anyone can bring stuff or take stuff away. You don’t have to bring something in order to take something although obviously if every just takes and doesn’t give, there will eventually be nothing left.

The idea of the Free Shop is based on the notion of a society where voluntary and equal co-operation between people has a central role. In such a society it is people's needs and not how much money they have that determine the distribution of wealth and resources. Sadly, in current society, money performs a central role and the accumulation of money has been elevated to a national pastime. That's a pity because capitalism is based on competition, mistrust and greed - certainly not good qualities. To make matters worse, within this society it is very hard to get by without money. You are expected to buy almost everything required to survive: food and drink, accommodation, education, health-care and even freedom has a price tag attached to it. You've got no money? Tough luck!

The most acceptable way of getting money is to go out and work for it in what they call the labour market. To make money this way, you have to compete with your partners-in-distress. You're expected to compete everywhere: to find a house, a job, to be educated... When you look at the picture, it's no wonder that people mistrust and suspect each other, more often than not they are competitors. It's in this way that money is used to turn people against each other and play people off one another. The capitalist economy stimulates and rewards sick human qualities like greed and egotism. The initiators for the Free Shop would like to see an end to this awful mechanism.

The Free Shop gives a glimpse of a different possible world. Instead of greed we put fair share. Instead of mistrust, trust, and instead of competition, co-operation. The Free Shop stimulates good human qualities rather than the bad and the success and the positive reactions to the existence of the Free Shop, make it clear that the majority of people support our the idea. Of course, there are people who, through all the misery and greed around them, have become cynical and cast off our ideas as nice but naive. For example, they say things like: People are lazy and greedy and you can't do anything about that. Free Shops prove the exactly the opposite with people happy to do something for another person without expecting something in return. People are delighted to share their unwanted or unneeded possessions with others rather than see them go to waste.

We live in a world of plenty of course, and that's why people have a lot to give away. But on the other hand, it's known that our profuse consumption is the cause of many problems in so-called third-world countries. Of course the Free Shop hasn't yet brought capitalism crumbling down. The fact remains that society will only change when the people who make up that society choose to change. The Free Shop is an example of just how differently things can be done. Waiting for the government to solve modern society’s problems is pointless. And waiting for the world revolution is equally as pointless. We have to work with one another, and win back the pieces of our existence together...in the cities, in the villages, in the neighborhood and in the street...and fight against the idiotic idea that we're on this earth only to compete with each other.

HOW TO USE THE FREE SHOP …
· Take what you want or need.
· Donate what you don’t need or want.
· Leave the free shop tidy.