“Thrifting”
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Thrift Stores have been around for over 100 years now, but we are starting to see a rise in what we know as “thrifting” which is “the act of shopping at a thrift store, flea market, garage sale, or a shop of a charitable organization, usually with the intent of finding interesting items at a low price”- Wikipedia. Thrifting has become very popular for “Do It Yourself” projects such as antiquing your own cabinet or coffee table, reupholstering your own vintage chair or creating your own beautiful centerpieces or designs. What draws people to this is the selection of eclectic and unique products at reasonable and low prices. By purchasing second-hand clothing and items, we can also lower the amount of waste we put into landfills and help the environment well into the future. With more people shopping at thrift stores, there are even more items that are getting a second “life” and even fewer items ending up in landfills.
A thrift store typically accepts donated items or sells goods on consignment. While some for-profit resale shops do call themselves thrift stores, the money raised in a thrift shop is used to fund a non-profit organization or other charity. Here at The POST, all proceeds made at The POST stay in our community by helping to fund the programs and services provided by CMHA-ASER. Programs and services from CMHA-ASER (Canadian Mental Health Association-Alberta South East Region) help to raise awareness and education about mental health in our community. First and foremost, by giving to a non-profit organization, you will be able to support causes which you feel are important directly, without having to become physically involved. Whether is be donations or volunteers, we rely on the community in order to continue to operate and give back.
At The POST, our staff and volunteers keep extremely busy sorting through, cleaning, testing, pricing and displaying all our donations we receive. Often, we receive an incredibly unique item that we need to research and get to find out the exciting origin and background of the item whether it be from furniture, vases, trinkets to even clothing. With the thousands of donations we receive it is always exciting to see what we find next. When we receive extremely rare, antique or popular items, we use these items a lot of times in our monthly silent auctions. We like to do roughly ten auctions a month where customers can come in and see the auction’s displays and bid on them. A lot of times in our auctions you will find memorabilia and collectibles to appease everyone such as Elvis collectables, sports team collectables, antique collectables, Harley Davidson collectables, just to name a few. The POST has a wide selection of products ranging from housewares and furniture to clothing and fashion and we are always receiving new items daily. We also get the luxury of seeing our regular customers and can connect with them. Being in a smaller community like Medicine Hat you get to know one another well and you get to know your customers. Customers and staff enjoy that connection; they want to feel good about being environmentally conscious, as well as giving back to their own community and they enjoy being where they are treated well and appreciated.
The Post is proud to be Medicine Hat’s premiere second-hand store and is proud to serve our community. We have been in our community going on 41 years now and are growing. We are always looking for volunteers to come in and assist and utilize their skills and talents so don’t hesitate to contact us if you are looking for that opportunity to become involved. Non-profits give us strength. So many organizations provide networks during our most difficult times, giving us strength today and hope for a better tomorrow. Non-profits grow communities and give us purpose and teach us the value and reward of teamwork and volunteering.
