Hundreds of people lined up inside Haney Place Mall on Saturday to be among the first to see the brand-new location for the Mission Thrift Store.
After spending nearly a quarter of a century in its original location at 22535 Lougheed Hwy., the Maple Ridge branch of Mission Thrift Store was forced to move when the building's elderly owners decided to sell.
Store manager Court Blom explained that the thrift store went on the hunt for a new location and was pleasantly surprised when the mall welcomed them with open arms.
"The mall has been outstanding," said Blom. "We initially only wanted about half of this space and asked what it would cost to divide the building. But they gave us a better deal to take the whole space."
He said that the new location is nearly ten times the size of their previous one, which is a big change for any organization, let alone a not-for-profit without a large budget for rent.
Blom also added that a big factor in moving into the mall was the uncertain future of the building, with both Thrifty's and Spirit Halloween occupying and then vacating the space all in the past 12 years.
However, the thrift store was given a 10-year guarantee that the mall wouldn't be demolished.
"Before you invest this kind of money as a not-for-profit, you want to make sure that you're going to be here for a while," said Blom.
Now that the new location is officially open, Mission Thrift Store can continue its efforts to offer the public a wide range of heavily discounted items and direct the profits back into the community.
"We do try to make a little bit of money, but as a not-for-profit, any profits we do have go to help people locally through things like literacy programs, women's ministries, children's ministries, distribute bibles around the world, and that kind of thing," said Blom.
To date, Blom said the Maple Ridge store has donated approximately $3.5 million to charities, with its parent company – which consists of 50 other stores across the country – donating more than $10 million just last year alone.
Anyone interested in checking out the Mission Thrift Store's range of products can stop by its new Maple Ridge location at 11895 226 Street.
