A downtown Wallaceburg shop has picked up and moved down the street.
Re:find Charity Gift Shoppe has moved into a brand new location at 369 James St., the former home of the Riviera and Jesse’s.
“We touched based with Christopher Henderson who owns the building,” said April Tuininga, one of the volunteers at the store. “Our lease started September 1. So we started probably mid-August and then we officially started moving over September 1.”
Tuininga said the store raised funds for the Wallaceburg Christian School.
“Most of our profits go back to the school,” she said.
“However we do take a portion of our profits every month and we tie it to a local charity. So in the recent few months we have donated to the Walpole Island Women’s Centre, the Lend a Hand Breakfast program, we did the Back Packs for kids in Wallaceburg through United Way, we do Christmas shopping for the Salvation Army for presents for kids and for food.”
Tuininga added: “So we are completely volunteer run at this point. We sell everything that you can imagine.”
Tuininga said their items come from donations from the community.
“I think that one of the reasons why we have received so many donations is because we sort and we price, put them back out on the floor so it’s a community who donates, but then it’s the community that purchases things and the money goes back into the community. It’s unlike Goodwill where you drop your stuff off at Goodwill and then it goes to Sarnia, London or Chatham. It doesn’t stay in Wallaceburg.”
Tuininga said they are loving the new location.
“Number one because it is twice the size of our old spot,” she said.
“We have a lot more space for donated goods, but also for working in the back pricing and sorting and going through everything. The floor space itself is about twice the size of what we had at our old building. Chris has done a really nice job renovating. We have got that trendy boutique kind of feel still with the interior brick and really nice greys and dark greys on the inside with the columns. There is quite a number of old vintage items that we use to display items on, so that gives it a nice feel. We love being downtown, we love being around the businesses downtown.”
Tuininga said they have an array of items, including: clothing, furniture, jewelry, shoes, linen, toys, housewares, house decor, kids stuff, books, DVDs, CDs and VHSs.
Tuininga said they aim to keep everything reasonably priced.
“I think that is one of the things that really attracts our shoppers too,” she said.
“Not to slam any other second hand stores, but I know people have said Value Village is getting so expensive. We keep our prices down. People donate stuff for free, so we turn that around and give that right back to our community for a really good price.”
Re:find is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, and closed on Sunday.
Tuininga said they are always looking for more volunteers and for donated items.
“We always can use more volunteers,” she said.
“We have some training that can happen. We have lots of regular volunteers too. Usually we match people up with someone who is familiar with how everything works and than after a couple of shifts than that person is usually ready to go. There is always sorting, pricing and putting things away. It definitely takes a community to run it.”
She added: “We are always open to donations. There is a donation door around the side facing the Sensations building. It’s bright green so you cant miss it.
Word of mouth because we are all volunteers and we are not-for-profit we try to limit our costs as much as we possibly can.
To inquire about volunteering or about making a donation, call 519-626-9814 or visit Re:Find on Facebook, here.
Here are some photos of the volunteers and of inside the new facility:
– This story is sponsored content
