MCC
MCC, or Mennonite Central Committee, is larger thrift shop located near the Salvation Army and Value Village in the North East, offering a large selection of furniture and clothing. Proceeds raised fund various initiatives in developing countries such as HIV/AIDS projects and providing educational assistance for children and young adults.
Location:
2946 32 St. N.E.
Calgary, AB
Phone: 403.272.0282
Website: http://mcc.org/thrift/shop/canada/
Hours: Monday - Saturday 9:30 - 5:00 (?).
Prices: Good.
Chance of finding a bargain: Good.
Chance of finding a treasure: Average.
Merchandise: Clothing, housewares, furniture and books. Antiques and recognized treasures are sold via silent auction.
Overall: A good thrift shop, reasonable prices, good selection, occasional sales that take 50-75% off their already low prices.
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Education Funding
***NOTE: The Education Funding thrift store closed it's doors on June 29, due to apparent gross mismanagement.***
Education Funding For The Children Of Alberta Society. No website, apparently the store donates a portion of it's revenues to the aforementioned charity. I suspect it's a "For Profit" model business, with slight donations to give them charitable status. Ask for details when in the store.
Location:
1611 37 Street SW
Calgary, AB
Phone: 403.217.3306
Hours: Vary.
Prices: Expensive.
Chance of finding a bargain: Slender.
Chance of finding a treasure: Average.
Merchandise: Clothing, housewares, derelict furniture and books.
Overall: It exudes hope, with it's bags of donations piled carelessly throughout the store, but prices tend to be arbitrarily decided by staff on a "how much do you want it" basis. Overall not worth stopping in unless you happen to be in the neighborhood.
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Habitat For Humanity
The Restore is run by the Habitat for Humanity, and offers brand new and donated building materials and furniture. Funds raised are used to assist in the Habitat for Humanity's accessably priced housing initiatives.
Location:
125, 2323 - 32 Avenue NE
Calgary, AB
Phone: 403.253.9331 ext 233
Website: www.habitatcalgary.ca
Hours: 9 - 6 pm, Tuesday thru Saturday.
Prices: Good to Excellent.
Chance of finding a bargain: Good.
Chance of finding a treasure: Very Good.
Merchandise: Recycled and new building materials, including but not limited to: Lamps, chandeliers, lighting fixtures, doors, hardwood flooring, windows, jacuzzi tubs, etc. Much of their material is brand new, donated by builders who found themselves with overstock and retailers getting rid of unsold merchandise.
Overall: A bit of creativity might lower that home reno. project budget from $20,000 to $2,000, without compromising the quality.
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Interfaith Furniture Store
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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