Where is the best thrift store in Alberta?

A southern Alberta thrift store wants to know where the best community thrift stores are around the province and hope a Facebook contest is the way to go.

"We just thought it would be something fun to do to bring awareness to thrift stores throughout the province and see the reaction from the people in the community," Len Buckley of Canmore's Crossway Community Thrift told The Homestretch.

While the contest concludes Thursday, Buckley says they've received entries from all parts of the province.

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"They are coming from all over the place, from Calgary, Okotoks, Airdrie, Lloydminster, Vulcan, Drayton Valley, it is pretty spread out."

Buckley says thrift stores in smaller towns tend to have a special relationship with the community.

"I think it's about the social interaction within the community itself. Each thrift store does something good for its community. That's why it's there," he said. "When the community comes into the store and interacts with the staff and brings them coffee and donuts and treats and home baking, it just creates this whole interpersonal environment. It's a social atmosphere."

The economic downturn in the province has led to greater use of thrift stores, Buckley said.

"I have seen an increase in customers and sales," he said. "It's the same trend with a lot of the other thrift stores around, people are tending to go there a little bit more and looking for an item first before they go get it at a larger store."

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With files from The Homestretch