“Will you be opening the Thrift Shop again soon?” Sadly no. While we miss the working camaraderie, the children running around all over the place, the chance to meet and greet and the general cheery atmosphere, despite all this, we just had to close.

The reasons are many, the resolutions few. Shortly after we opened after the COVID closure, we found glass jars smashed all over the parking lot, a kerosene-filled lamp tipped over by the front door and the locks jammed with broken glass and broken knife tips. We cleaned up the glass and freed one of the locks but the following week more glass was broken and the locks again jammed. Again the cleanup and, with help from many friends, we freed one lock. Then the locks were jammed again. Third time unlucky. We closed the store and reported the vandalism to the RCMP and, although the file is still open and they continue to investigate, there have been no arrests at the time of writing.

We also closed because, despite our many entreaties for people not to drop stuff off between opening hours, deliveries continued. Our lobby was loaded with junk week after week. We had to contend with dirty old shoes, torn t-shirts and used mattresses. What was left there was ransacked and thrown into the bushes around the building. Our mantra to others was “If you wouldn’t buy the used stuff, no-one else can use it either, so please don’t donate it.” It didn’t matter; over time we became a drop-off point for people’s waste and we filled a dumpster each week.

It was especially bad after the two-year COVID closure. Bags of items that had been stored in a garage or basement became mouldy and attracted bugs and were then ‘donated’ to us. We had to go through each bag; one never knew what it would contain. A gold ring, a photo album of relevance tossed in by mistake, someone’s birth certificate, a credit card. (If we knew where the items came from, we’d try to return them).

The shop had been open for twenty-five years. In that time, over 100 volunteers helped out. No-one received any payment, although as a volunteer you could have first dibs on donations (but you had to pay!). Each week upwards of twenty people processed the donations and over 150 shoppers came through the door during our three-hour openings. People found toys, records, books and nooks to read in. Other groups, including the Transition House, accessed free clothing and, when house fires destroyed everything except lives, the store was opened for them. Visitors found what they wanted for their camp kitchen and jackets for our cooler climate.

In smaller communities, thrift shops like St. Paul’s serve a great many people. But it brings up the bigger question regarding consumption. Do thrift shops really serve a social purpose nowadays or are they merely feeding the consumer god? Would one really buy something on-line knowing that, if it doesn’t fit, it can be passed on to the thrift store? Does knowing that there is a place to donate what you don’t like anymore encourage excess consumption?

It is possible that thrift stores are an invitation to take more than one individual might need in a lifetime. The question of need versus greed is big in today’s world and we are reminded almost daily that we are drowning in cheap off-shore clothes. It is so bad that Africa has asked western countries not to dump on their shores; they don’t want our cast-offs. It both clutters up their world and destroys the local artisanal artist’s ability to make a living from their home-made garments.

Those are the big questions. On our own small scale, we are sad that the local store had to close. The actions of a few undid our ability to provide. It was both disrespectful and hurtful to the hard-working volunteers and the many wonderful, fun shoppers who helped to keep the place open for the last quarter-century.