Thorold thrifters can breathe a sigh of relief. After a long hiatus, the Thorold Community Care Thrift Shop has finally opened its doors again.
“It’s been great,” says store manager Brooke Racey, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “Everybody’s been extremely happy that we are open. They’ve missed the store, they’ve missed the volunteers working here.”
Because of COVID-19, the thrift shop on Albert Street West was closed for most of the past two years. When the shop was open, it was curbside only.
“We were doing window sales,” says Racey. “The window was filled up with items and then they just paid cash at the door. Then we shut down again when the cases started going back up. We fully opened again on Monday. We’re allowing two people at the time and they have to wear a mask.”
During the extended closure the thrift store amassed a lot of donated clothing.
“We have a whole rack right now of brand new clothing, the original tags are still on,” says Racey. “We’ve been collecting that over the last few years that we’ve been closed. We have quite a bit of stock. We’ll let everybody know on the Facebook page when we’re going to start accepting donations again. We’re just full.”
Racey only started working at the store in September so she’s happy to finally interact directly with customers.
“I haven’t been open since I’ve been here,” she says. “It was interesting. At least I got to know the layout of the store and I organized and cleaned so it was good.”
The best thing about opening up again is the sense of community that has been regained, according to Racey.
“We called a lot of [volunteers] back this week so they were excited,” she says. “Everybody is treated like family here. All the volunteers get along. It’s just great to interact with the clients and help them out.”
Even though there is a sense of relief that they're open again, the store will take it slow at first.
“This is a soft opening,” Racey says. “We just got the go-ahead to open this week and our hours are shortened so we’re just going to try it out and see how it goes. Hopefully in the coming weeks we can be open longer.”
The Community Care Thrift Shop is located at 25 Albert Street West and is open Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Masking is required.
