Finding a diamond in the rough
Thrift store tour aims to help shoppers locate that perfect gift
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/11/2017 (3150 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Does the idea of hitting the mall to do your Christmas shopping fill you with existential dread? Do you love giving presents but hate being part of the cycle of endless consumption? Is the idea of driving all over town to find the perfect gift making you anxious?
If so, the Magical Mystery Thrift Bus Tour might be just the cure you’re looking for: one warm bus, four local lesser-known thrift stores and a whole lot of unique, eco-friendly gifts that also give back to the community.
The tour will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 1445 Main St. The bus will return there at about 2:30 p.m. after a 45- to 60-minute shopping stop at each location; participants will also receive a coupon for each store. There’s a hotdog lunch at the final stop.
The event’s organizer, Kristy Muckosky, works at Thrive Thrift Shop at 555 Spence St., a project of Thrive Community Support Circle that provides international students and newcomers to the city, as well as those overcoming physical and mental-health issues and people completing court-mandated community service, with employment, social and life skills and work experience.
The seed of the tour was planted after she formed a networking support group for other charity thrift shops in the city.
“Every time we met, we would laugh because we all had similar stories and the same challenges, and success stories,” she says. “Even though each one of us are helping individuals who face barriers in their lives, we are all helping slightly different people, but the struggles are the same.”
The 32-year-old Thrive (formerly called Spence Street Thrift Shop) has 50 to 75 volunteers a month who run the store and the warehouse.
“They’re all here to either obtain job skills or social skills and/or improve their English,” she says.
“We sell clothing and household items, furniture, baby clothes, toys; basically everything and anything except old TVs,” Muckosky says. “We service West End residents, often those living in poverty. Our products are very, very, very affordable.”
Despite its three decades serving the community, she says Thrive isn’t well known outside the West End.
“People don’t know about us and this is another chance to let people know that we exist,” Muckosky says.
“Every time I tell someone about the store, every single time, I hear, ‘Oh goodness, I had a bunch of stuff in my trunk and I just took it to Value Village because I didn’t know where else to go.’”
Donation hours are Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the store will also pick up items. Tour participants will be offered 10 per cent off locally made homemade quilts.
jill.wilson@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @dedaumier
Jill Wilson is the editor of the Arts & Life section. A born and bred Winnipegger, she graduated from the University of Winnipeg and worked at Stylus magazine, the Winnipeg Sun and Uptown before joining the Free Press in 2003. Read more about Jill.
Jill oversees the team that publishes news and analysis about art, entertainment and culture in Manitoba. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Other participating stores:
Sscope inc. at 1466 Arlington St. runs Treasures Thrift Store. The shop is one of the non-profit organization’s green businesses that provide casual and part-time employment to those overcoming and managing mental illness. It offers clothing, toys, costume jewelry, footwear, electronics, furniture and more.
The Up Shoppe, a program of the North End Women’s Centre, is at 382 Selkirk Ave. The store offers new and used items including baby layettes, women’s business attire, health and beauty products, jewelry by local artisans and small household items. The shop also builds employment skills in local women and revitalizes Selkirk Avenue. Tour participants will get 50 per cent off better-quality ladies wear.
The Scrap Came Back is operated under the umbrella of DASCH community living agency, which supports children, youth and adults with intellectual disabilities. The store at 153 St. Anne’s Rd. supports local artists, and promotes fair trade and re-purposed products; you’ll find chairs made of upcycled skateboard decks, art made of discarded scrap paper and earrings crafted out of old rubber bands.
Tickets for the Magical Mystery Bus Tour are $10, available at any of the participating stores or at sscope.org. Some stores only take cash or debit.
For more information, please contact Kristy Muckosky at 204-783-9281 or thrivethriftshop@thrivewpg.com.
Tickets
Tickets for the Magical Mystery Bus Tour are $10, available at any of the participating stores or at www.sscope.org. Note: some stores only take cash or debit.
For more information, please contact Kristy Muckosky at 204-783-9281 or thrivethriftshop@thrivewpg.com.
Jill Wilson is the editor of the Arts & Life section. A born and bred Winnipegger, she graduated from the University of Winnipeg and worked at Stylus magazine, the Winnipeg Sun and Uptown before joining the Free Press in 2003. Read more about Jill.
Jill oversees the team that publishes news and analysis about art, entertainment and culture in Manitoba. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Advertisement Advertise With Us
Advertisement Advertise With Us
