Thrift Avenue and Company a new thrift store that gives back to Prince Albert

Michael Oleksyn/Daily Herald There was a large crowd as Thrift Avenue and Company opened on Marquis Road on Saturday morning

On Saturday, a new thrift store on Marquis Road had a grand opening,

Thrift Avenue & Company has been in the planning stages for several months and was a popular place on Saturday morning on Marquis Road.

Wayne Ilnisky co-owner of Thrift Avenue and Company with his wife Shari Ilnisky said the business came about as a way to transition from another opportunity. The idea was to transition the old business downtown to a new thrift store concept on Marquis Road.

“My Wife and I owned a business in downtown Prince Albert called Eclectic Upcycled Furniture, she’s had that for downtown for about five years. We still have the location, actually, which closed, but we’re just slowly transitioning,” Ilnisky said.

“After a number of conversations and a bunch of research, we took the jump in (the fall) and we got the search going for locations. You can’t do anything unless you have the building.”

After they secured the location, they got to work on renovating and creating the new business. They also began the process of collecting donations.

They also created an association with S.H,A.R.E. Prince Albert.

“There really isn’t a lot of other options for thrift stores in Prince Albert and we want to give back to our community,” Ilnisky said.

“Part of that mission statement is that we want to give all that we can—anything that we can give back to the community. We want it to stay in Prince Albert, so S.H.A.R.E was where we started and we’ll stay and we’ll stick with because we can.”

The store is filling a gap for thrift stores in Prince Albert that also give back to the community since the Salvation Army Thrift Store closed. He said a thrift store that allows people to get rid of unwanted items and give back at the same time was missing.

“We have these conversations at our back doors, our donation drop off and we have these personal conversations on a regular basis,” Ilnisky said.

“We’ve heard from outside communities (who are) even bringing things (and) those individuals are part of organisations that are donate to their own communities.”

He said that along with S.H.A.R.E., the business wants to find other organizations to give back to. They have also donated items to non-profits like the Reaching Out Ministry which was divided among Children’s Haven, Homeward Bound and others.

“This is all very new,” Ilnisky explained. “We have to figure out what percentage we will be able to give back. Right now we have a massive amount of expenses that we need to start to try and recover.

“In the short term, we’re definitely already giving back to smaller entities, non-profits and such that are giving directly to the people in the Community who need it. That’s a good thing. That’s a good feeling right out of the gate.”

They also employ an individual who is part of the S.H.A.R.E program.

Delaney Denham Photography Before Thrift Avenue and Company opened on Saturday the owners, employees and volunteers held a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The model offers S.H.A.R.E the opportunity to receive ongoing financial support with overhead for fundraising.

“That’s going to just continue,” Ilnisky said. “We will likely get more of them to come.”

He said their mission is ensure that individuals of all backgrounds have access to clean, affordable items. They want to eliminate the stigma around second-hand items and provide a clean, welcoming environment similar to any regular retail store.

Ilnisky said that people can shop at thrift stores for reasons such as necessity and fun.

“We are creating a place for everyone to go to find a good deal on something unique. (That) is what our goal is. We wanted to create a unique environment. We wanted to that that for everyone to shop in,” Ilnisky said.

“Even though it is a thrift store, you kind of forget you’re in a thrift store because the environment you’re in sort of sets the tone for how you feel,” he said.

Another aspect of the business that pleasantly surprised Ilnisky was the number of people who signed up as volunteers. A number of them are family including his mother who has been around since the beginning of taking donations.

“People don’t really don’t fully understand or appreciate the amount of time and effort that goes into getting an item from the box when it arrives at the back door and to getting it to a stage where actually could put it on the shelf. Sure, certain items you, you assess it and you price it and it’s done. Clothing … can be quite a large undertaking,” he said.

“In and of itself, the volunteers have been just instrumental and some of them, we’ve turned them into employees. That worked out well and some continued to volunteer and we’ll just see where that goes.”

Business hours are Tues, Wednesday and Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m, closed Sunday and Monday. Drop off hours are the same as business hours.

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