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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Thrift Shops
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Goodwill's mission is to provide education, training, and career services for people with disabilities and disadvantages. This they do through selling off donations. Various locations throughout Calgary and Alberta.
Locations:
Shaganappi
4625 Varsity Drive NW
Macleod Trail
10426 Macleod Trail SE
TransCanada
1440 - 52 Street NE
With various other donations centers scattered throughout the city. See their website for more information.
Website: http://www.goodwill.ab.ca/
Hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-6pm Sunday 10am-5pm.
Prices: Vary from store to store. Clothing tends to be priced high, housewares and furniture more reasonably.
Chance of finding a bargain: OK.
Chance of finding a treasure: Good.
Merchandise: Clothing, housewares, furniture, books, electronics, jewellry, etc.
Overall: Selection and price vary from store to store. The Varsity location tends to be priced somewhat on the high side, the MacLeod Trail and Trans-Canada locations more reasonably.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Thrift Shops
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The Salvation Army, or "Sally Ann", is one of the most recognizable thrift shop names across North America. Once upon a time you could find real treasures there. Sadly times have changed, prices now tend to be high and the selection seems to be "picked" - meaning that all the good merchandise has been disposed of through the back door to dealers. Money raised from stores goes to support the Salvation Army's many programs, including the shelter in downtown Calgary.
Locations:
916 42nd Avenue SE
Phone: 403.243.3209
#23, 3220 5th Avenue NE
Phone: 403.387.0500
#3A, 3200-17 Avenue SE
Phone: 403.235.3976
2840 Glenmore Trail SE
Phone: 403.279.9035
#461, 3508-32 Avenue NE
Phone: 403.250.2110
Website: http://ab.salvationarmy.ca/thriftstores.htm
Hours: Call for hours.
Prices: Generally high.
Chance of finding a bargain: Poor.
Chance of finding a treasure: Slender to none.
Merchandise: Clothing, housewares, some furniture, books, electronics, jewellry, etc.
Overall: Generally not worth stopping in. Prices high, and the good merchandise has been picked through and sent off to consignment shops or Antique dealers. Leaving the customers with rubbish.
Note: I've been to some of the Salvation Army's in other locations throughout Alberta that offer a much better selection at much more reasonable prices. So whatever issue is affecting their stores in Calgary is not necessarily affecting the stores nationwide.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Thrift Shops
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Value Village is part of a North American chain that sells donated goods and gives a portion of their revenues to affiliated charities. They have come under criticism for not being, strictly speaking, a charity shop, but they do help a lot of local charities that wouldn't otherwise be able to fundraise on their own and recycle a great deal of clothing, electronics and furniture that otherwise would find it's way to the landfill.
Locations:
3405 34 St NE
Phone: 403.291.0862
1-240 Midpark Way SE
Phone: 403.201.5350
104 - 58th Ave. SE
Phone: 403.255.5501
Hours: Monday - Friday 9 a.m. – 9 p.m, Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Prices: Fair to Good.
Chance of finding a bargain: Good.
Chance of finding a treasure: Excellent.
Merchandise: Mostly clothing, some furniture, books, electronics, jewellry, etc.
Overall: A very popular store at Halloween, but worth attention year round. A must-stop on any thrift-shop tour of the city.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Thrift Shops
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The Interfaith Furniture Store is a large warehouse style thrift shop in Calgary's North East that offers an immense variety and selection of used furniture and antiques. The store will provide you with their mission statement.
Location:
635 - 35 Ave. NE
Phone: 403.276.3173
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (Closed Tuesdays after a Monday statutory holiday.)
Prices: Outrageous. Prices for older furniture and antiques tend to be exhorbitantly high, often in excess of what you would expect to pay at an upmarket antique dealers. They seem to calculate their prices by doing searches through donated antique catelogues, finding the highest priced example (eg: a Louis IV armoire for $10, 000) that comes close to what they have, then adding 20% to account for inflation, and another 20% finders fee. Never mind that the Armoire they have is actually a depression era 1940's oak wardrobe and missing a door ...
Apparently this policy is done to discourage "Dealers" from picking up bargains and reselling them, unfortunately it also discourages customers. On the good side they do run a Dutch Auction, wherein larger goods are tagged with the date they came into the store, then marked down 25% after a week, and 50% after a month. Even with these markdowns the prices still tend to be very high.
Chance of finding a bargain: Slender to none.
Chance of finding a treasure: Excellent.
Merchandise: Mostly furniture, some antiques, housewares, toys, some clothing and books.
Overall: Worth popping into, but generally not worth purchasing anything. Check the other thrift shops in Calgary first.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Thrift Shops
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The Women in Need is a Calgary based organization that uses funds raised to assist women in low income situations.
Website: www.womeninneed.net/
Locations:
Fisher Park
134 71 Ave SE
Phone: 403.255.7514
Killarney
2907 Richmond Rd SW
Phone: 403.242.4969
Bowness
6432 Bowness Road NW
Phone: 403.288.4825
Dover
3525 26 Ave SE
Phone: 403.235.6448
Prices: Very Good. Each store has it's own sales and pricing structure, for example in Killarney they frequently have sales in which they mark down unsold clothing to half price or 50 cents per colored tag item. Selection varies from store to store so check back frequently to find new items.
Chance of finding a bargain: Excellent.
Chance of finding a treasure: Good
Merchandise: Clothing, miscellaneous household appliances with some jewellry and books. Selection and prices vary from store to store. Furniture is available at the Dover Location only.
Overall: Probably the best charity shop in Calgary.