Shop by weight at new Mennonite Central Committee thrift store
The store redistributes surplus items from 11 MCC Ontario thrift stores
Get your clothing and books by the weight of it — that's the shopping experience offered by the new Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) rePurpose Centre opening Thursday in Elmira on 6 Arthur St.
The retail store will be selling surplus clothing and other items that can't be housed in the 11 MCC thrift stores across Ontario.
"There's really nothing wrong with them," said Karla Richards, acting general manager, "We were just running out of space."
"It's just extreme generosity from our customers that gave us more than we can handle in our shops," she said.
What will open on Thursday is a retail store offering a "different shopping experience" for all types of customers — a mother looking for lots of cheap baby clothing, a textile artist or someone looking to resell items for profit.
The cost:
- Clothing, footwear and accessories are $1.88 per pound ($4.14 per kilogram).
- Houseware and books are $0.88 per pound ($1.94 per kilogram).
- Jewellery is $5.88 per pound ($12.94 per kilogram).
Items in the store aren't priced individually because it would take too long, said Richards. The 8,500-square-foot retail store is run by a small paid staff and volunteers.
Connected to the retail store is a facility where unsold donations from MCC thrift stores are collected and sorted for redistribution.The total space is just under 30,000 square feet.
MCC is also looking for ways to repurpose some materials, like creating rags out of unused clothing or shredding books to make animal bedding.