A pay-what-you-can thrift store is expanding. Their volunteers made it possible - Action News
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A pay-what-you-can thrift store is expanding. Their volunteers made it possible

While the sales income from the pay-what-you-can model is enough to cover the few necessary bills, operating the downtown Calgary store without a team of volunteers would be difficult.

Good Neighbour Community Market in Calgary relies on volunteers and donations

This pay-what-you-can thrift store inspires young community builders

2 years ago
Duration 1:32
Good Neighbour Community Market is expanding, thanks to its team of volunteers who gain skills, experience, and like-minded friends.

Good Neighbour Community Marketis expanding, thanks in no small part to its team of volunteers.

The pay-what-you-can thrift store is opening an upper level as a regular thrift store with marked prices, meant to supplement the store below that serves customers with lower incomes.

WATCH ABOVE | Good Neighbour grows a following of young adults giving back:

"There's a lot of folks who want to shop at our store to support us, but then they feel uncomfortable shopping and taking things away from clientele that need it," said Alice Lam, one of the store's co-founders.

"So this gives everybody kind of like an equal chance to kind of shop and still provide, you know, fundraising towarda good cause."

A woman in black pants, black crew neck t-shirt, and light blue button up overshirt stands in front of a pile of donations in bags and bins. The pile is taller than she is, as she holds her arms out to her sides in front of it.
Gabriella Wong Ken has been volunteering since she was a child. Now in her mid-20s and still volunteering, she looks for initiatives run by Calgarians that have a local impact she can see first-hand. (Jo Horwood/CBC)

While the sales income from the pay-what-you-can model is enough to cover the few necessary bills, operating the store without a team of volunteers would be difficult.

Having to pay wages for the few days a week they are open to donations and customers could be the difference between the not-for-profit staying open or having to shut down.

But the low-income clients who visit Good Neighbour aren't the only ones benefitingfrom the store's existence, either.

Inspiring community builders

Gabriella Wong Ken's love of volunteering and community building began at a young age.

Born to immigrant parents, she says her family wasalways looking for a community to belong to, which often lead to volunteering in those spaces.

"When I was younger, I was often just kind of tagging along as part of it, and now I feel really proud that I get to kind of be more of like on the creator end of kind of creatingthese environments for other young people to come now."

Three people are working away at painting bookcases. On the left, a person with curly cropped hair wearing a mask scrolls through their phone. In the centre, a person bends over to paint a bright orange shelf. On the right, a person adjusts his mask.
Good Neighbour operates almost entirely through donations and volunteer hours. They give back not only through serving low income Calgarians but by helping inspire the next generation of community builders. (Jo Horwood/CBC)

The 26-year-old says that along with contributing to her community, her experiencevolunteering at Good Neighbour since the doors first opened about a year and a half ago has introduced her to like-minded people.

"You can start collaborating with them on new projects, and also it's just really great to be in a community of people who all have a shared common goal and want to give back and kind of have a lot of similar values as well," said Wong Ken.

The experience has also given her skills she can use in other areas of her life that she otherwise wouldn't have gained.

"I have no, like, realconstruction knowledge. Not much of that at all. But through this store, I've learned so much. Just like little things, you know, that Inever would have picked up at my career on a daily basis."

Young following

In addition to building a community, Good Neighbour's co-founder says the store has grown a following of young people looking to give back in a direct way.

"It's run by youth, too. Like the average age of the co-founders is 25 to 30 years old. So it's really cool to kind of see something that's led by this younger generation of Calgarians and they want to be a part of it," said Lam.

A group of people pose against a flat white wall. Everyone is wearing masks, with one person in the front holding a Dalmation.
Volunteers at Good Neighbour take a quick break for a photo on the second of three days spent working to get the new level of the store ready to open Jan. 7. (Jo Horwood/CBC)

Wong Ken says they have a variety of ages and backgrounds ontheir team, but she understands howGood Neighbour appealsto younger volunteers looking to curate their experience.

"There's people painting, there's people cleaning, there's people moving items and participating in kind of whatever way they want to. So I think it also, for young people, it kind of gives them the power to choose also what they want to do."

Lam says that freedom of choice helps young volunteers consider the possibilities of their own future in the city.

A woman stands in a retail store smiling for the camera. She is wearing a black sweater with a logo reading 'Good Neighbour'. The store's walls are decorated with a mural that reads
Alice Lam, one of the co-founders of the Good Neighbour Community Market, says the inclusive and barrier-free philosophy of the store resonates with people looking to make an impact in their community. (Jo Horwood/CBC News)

"People are always saying, 'Oh no, young people are all leaving,'" said Lam.

"Actually, I'm getting a lot of young people moving to Calgary because they see projects and initiatives thatlook like this and they say, 'You know, Calgary is a place where I can start a project.'"

Expanding possibilities

While Lam and her team have always had access to the extra space, she says they took time to consider how the expansion could make the biggest impact.

As 2022 came to a close, they made their plans a reality during a three-day volunteering blitz to get the new store ready to open on Jan.7.

It's a reality Wong Ken didn't necessarily see coming, but it's one she's excited to be a part of.

"When we started the store, we had no idea what was going to happen. We weren't even sure if we would last a week," she said.

"Now it's been over a year and now we're expanding. So yeah, anything is really possible."


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