Salvation Army Thrift Store resumes operations
Reeti Meenakshi Rohilla - Staff Writer
Sioux Lookout’s Salvation Army Thrift Store began to welcome customers and donations in limited capacity last weekend.
“Now that some of the restrictions have been lifted by the province, we have been able to reopen under the same kind of precaution that we had last April. So, we are allowing four people into the store at a time, mask wearing and hand sanitizing, and a 15 minutes time limit, if there is a line-up outside,” said Lois Mombourquette, Salvation Army Thrift Store Executive Committee member. She added, “We are excited to be reopening. People have been phoning us and dropping by and being anxious and missing us. So we are happy to be able to serve the community again, as of (last) Saturday.”
Mombourquette said that while the province loosened restrictions a week prior to their reopening, that it was only recently that they were prepared to open. The store is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Shoppers have an option to fill a $5 or $7 bag of clothing.
Due to limited capacity and a backlog of last year’s summer clothes, Mombourquette said that the store is unable to accept clothing donations at this time, with housewares and other items such as shoes and books remaining open for donations. She added that any further updates regarding donations can be followed on the Sioux Lookout Salvation Army Thrift Store’s Facebook page.
“When the store was closed we weren’t making any money, but we weren’t losing a lot of money either. We were just dealing with our regular expenses. But our expense are pretty minimum, so we weren’t in danger of going out of business,” she said.
Mombourquette said that while the store has several volunteers, they always welcome more; especially cashiers who she said are harder to train. Anyone interested in volunteering can reach out via the store’s Facebook page or drop in during store hours.
“We just look forward to having the customers back in. It has been a long haul, and I know a lot of people really appreciate the store. So many people had been missing it and some people rely on it…and others just had fun in the store. It’s a fun place. It’s great, you can get bargains,” Mombourquette
concluded.