On Dec. 4, after a brief hiatus, Iqaluit’s Piviniit Thrift Store reopened to long lineups and lots of customers, moving to it’s new location at building 778 along Fred Coman Drive.
“We were expecting to be busy on the day of our re-opening but were still blown away by the amount of shoppers,” said Anika Bychok, Piviniit Society’s volunteer co-ordinator, so much so they had two people working at the cash register that day.
As a way of saying thank you to Iqalummiut, Piviniit gave away as many $5 gift cards as they could during its reopening. There was also a contest held, with one customer winning $50 worth of Piviniit gift cards.
“We also had a lot of people stop by on Saturday to drop off donations that they had likely been holding on to since we closed in Building 655 at the end of September,” said Bychok.
She also noted many customers on Dec. 4 were impressed by the increased size of the new space, with more room for people to move around in and to store donations.
Piviniit is grateful to receive help from its new landlord True North Properties Group, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association for providing funding to help renovate 778 and the Uqsuq Corporation for subsidizing fuel costs in the new location.
The organization took to social media to thank everyone who attended, “we are definitely feeling the love today,” read a statement by Piviniit on Facebook on the reopening.