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Thrift stores thriving
CHALLENGING ECONOMIC TIMES HAVE BEEN A BOON FOR RED DEER’S THRIFT STORES, WHICH ARE SEEING A LOT MORE PEOPLE NEEDING HELP
MARY-ANN BARR BARRSIDE
On a daily basis now, a Red Deer thrift store is seeing the hard side of challenging economic times — at both the front and back doors. The regular frugal shoppers are always there — people who don’t mind buying second-hand goods at unbeatable prices. But Bibles for Missions Thrift Store also sees many who are thrifty because they have simply no choice. And these days, that business is booming. “We have seen a huge increase,” assistant manager Leigh Taylor said. “We’re seeing a lot more people needing help.” In fact, the store saw more than a 20-per-cent increase in sales from January 2015 to January 2016. They now need four cashiers at any given time compared with just two before the economic downturn began to take hold. “That’s a lot for us.” They are noticing more people who can’t afford clothes at regular retail stores. “They’re all budgeting. They’re budgeting for how much they’ll need to get shoes for their kids, or they need socks. “For us it’s a little more stress because they’ll come to you and they’re crying. … ‘How do I do this? I don’t know what to do. I’m not making enough. I don’t get enough off my unemployment.’ “And so we’re seeing how it is affecting them, and how we can help them.” To help more, the store will have sales when they know certain cheques are coming in, Taylor said. The downturn is also having an impact on the donations the thrift store has been receiving — surprisingly more, not fewer, items are being donated. Taylor said they recently did a survey for three-and-a-half weeks where the volunteers who receive donations of items at the back of the store asked: “Why are you donating to us today?” “Most of them, I would say a good 70 per cent are saying: ‘We’re having to move out of the province. We lost our job. We can’t afford it anymore.’” So rather that leave things
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
ABOVE: Bibles For Missions assistant manager Leigh Taylor, left, and volunteer Joan Swanson, right, help customer Jean Williams in the store this week. LEFT: Bibles For Missions general manager Bob Riley and store assistant manager Leigh Taylor in the store this week.
behind, people are donating to places like Bibles For Missions. The thrift store, which will celebrate 25 years of volunteerism on Mon-
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day, is nondenominational, and run almost entirely by volunteers. All its proceeds go to Bible League Canada, which is involved with missionary work and charitable activities such as sending clothes to abandoned girls in orphanages in China. Locally, the thrift store works with about 28 different agencies in Red Deer and Sylvan Lake through a voucher program issued by agencies to help clients in need. Some of these groups include the Salvation Army, Central Alberta Women’s Emergency Shelter, Central Alberta Women’s Outreach Society, Safe Harbour and Loaves and Fishes. One group they helped recently were Syrian refugees who were issued
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small vouchers from Catholic Social Services so they could get things they really need, such as socks and underwear. “They’re so gracious,” Taylor said of the refugees. “They’ll hug you, they’ll thank you. … When you see what they need and how they thank you for it, you know you’re doing a good thing.” Bibles for Missions Thrift Store started out 25 years ago as a consignment and thrift store. Within three months it outgrew its space, and has relocated twice since. “We offer everything and the kitchen sink,” said Taylor.
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