Steinbach to lose Ten Thousand Villages store

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This article was published 15/06/2023 (1158 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Shoppers with a social conscience are about to lose an option to support artisans in faraway developing countries.

The Ten Thousand Villages store in Steinbach has made a business decision to close Aug. 31.

“I’m going to miss it,” Darlene Reimer, the store’s first manager, said.

Reimer is glad the fair-trade business helped artisans in the developing world over the past three decades.

“A lot of good was accomplished through it,” she said. “The lives of artisans around the world were improved.”

The store sells clothing, jewelry, coffee, chocolate, kitchenware, candles and home décor made by artisans in the developing world.

When it opened in 1993, it was part of the national Ten Thousand Villages chain of fair trade stores operated by the Mennonite Central Committee in Canada.

The MCC closed stores across the country in 2020 because of falling sales. Eight stores across Canada decided to continue, including in Steinbach and Brandon.

They sourced their inventory from Ten Thousand Villages in the U.S., which remained open. That business model is no longer sustainable, said Sid Dyck, chairman of the Steinbach MCC thrift shop and the Ten Thousand Villages board.

“We decided to keep going when MCC closed down the business,” he said. “We had a loyal customer base who believed in what we were doing to support artisans overseas.”

Continuing to operate was difficult due to the pandemic, the exchange rate and having to pay high transportation and tariff costs. “Our profit margins were not very high,” said Dyck.

While sorry to see it go, closing the store “is a business decision,” he said, adding revenue from the thrift store was being used to keep it going. “It just couldn’t support itself. Every year ended in a deficit.”

Competition from big box retailers was also a factor. Costco sold the same kind of fair trade coffee as Ten Thousand Villages but at a lower price.

“People could buy it for less at other places,” Dyck said.

The closure will be a loss for Steinbach’s Main Street, he said, noting the MCC thrift shop board, which owns the building, will look for new tenants.

A full-time manager and part-time employee will be out of work, 30 volunteers will no longer be needed.

“While I am sorry to see it go, I am grateful for the customers and volunteers,” said Dyck, adding he was able to travel to the developing world to see how sales from the store had improved the lives of artisans.

“I could see the difference it made in their lives,” he said, adding all of the artisans have been paid for their products.

“Nobody overseas is losing any money because we are closing,” he said.

Products in the store will be on sale at progressively lower prices until Aug. 31. Unsold items will then be for sale in the thrift shop.

The Brandon store — which has also faced its share of struggles because of the exchange rate, duties and taxes — will remain open.

It will continue thanks to “a dedicated group of volunteers and a supportive community,” manager MeeghanGavin said.

Online sales have helped, as has short-term pop-up stores in places such as Winkler, Winnipeg, Dauphin, Rivers and Minnedosa.

The store has increased prices on some items, just as other retail outlets have been forced to do.

“We either make less or we charge more,” Gavin said.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca