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Fashion & Style

Secondhand Smackdown: Canadian Thrift Store vs Value Village

Posted by Staff / March 17, 2007

16 Comments

20070317_thrift1.gifIn the Woodbine and Danforth arena, two contenders are battling it out for supremacy. In the northeast corner is relative newcomer Canadian Thrift Store. In the southeast corner is the powerhouse Value Village. I pitted the two against each other to determine the Champion of Cheap.

Round One: Skirts
Canadian Thrift Store: $3.99
Value Village: $5.99 - $7.99
Winner: Canadian Thrift Store

Round Two: Jeans
Canadian Thrift Store: Non designer: $4.99, Calvin Klein: $6.99, Parasuco: $9.99
Value Village: Non designer: $5.99, Calvin Klein: $3.99, Parasuco: $5.99
Winner: Value Village

Round Three: Dresses
Canadian Thrift Store: $4.99 - $7.99
Value Village: $7.99 - $19.99 (most are $9.99)
Winner: Canadian Thrift Store

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Round Four: Shoes
Canadian Thrift Store: $4.99
Value Village: $3.99 - $9.99 (most are $5.99)
Winner: Canadian Thrift Store

Round Five: Boots
Canadian Thrift Store: $5.99 - $8.99
Value Village: $4.99 - $14.99 (leather)
Winner: Canadian Thrift Store

Round Six: Selection
Canadian Thrift Store: Less junk to sift through.
Value Village: Bigger selection makes it more likely to find a gem, plus items are sorted by size.
Winner: Value Village

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Round Six: Deals
Canadian Thrift Store: 50% off everything on Monday March 19th.
Value Village: One stamp for every $5 spent. Collect 10 stamps by April 15th and get 30% off your next purchase.
Winner: Value Village

But wait! Another contender has entered the ring. It's St. John's Thrift Store, just east of Value Village. Can you ever really have too many secondhand stores? With one-stop shopping like this, the real winner is my closet.

Canadian Thrift Store
2110 Danforth Avenue
416-423-6696

St. John's Thrift Store
2155 Danforth Ave
416-698-9848

Value Village
2119 Danforth Avenue
416-698-0621

Discussion

16 Comments

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tyrone / March 17, 2007 at 08:01 pm
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Welcome to Woodbine Heights, were we deal in thrift stores, hair salons and dive bars.
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megan / March 18, 2007 at 10:24 pm
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Oooh, I'll have to check out Canadian Thrift Store. I'm actually looking for random house crap, so I'm keeping my eyes open for good deals on second hand stuff.
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vivyruest / March 19, 2007 at 01:00 pm
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Canadian Thrift Store have a bad selection...nothing you would like to buy, that's why the prices are so low. The Value Village got a lot of nice finds, I go there often.
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Susan Clarke / March 19, 2007 at 06:46 pm
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Canadian Thrift Store is actually getting much better. I admit, the first time I went there last fall, I was not impressed, but they have improved. Today I bought a Spider-man shirt for 50 cents and a long chiffon skirt made in Italy and embroidered with flowers for $4.00. As with all second-hand, patience and persistence are required.
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HiMY SYeD / March 20, 2007 at 04:59 pm
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And within walking distance at 1801-1805 Danforth Ave is the Bilquis Edhi Charitable Shop.

Sattar Edhi, known as the Mother Theresa of Pakistan, on his first trip to Toronto was shocked to learn there were homeless and poor people in this first world country. So he opened up the above shop on The Danforth, one of 37 around the world, and it unassumingly goes about doing pretty much the same as the other stores profiled above. Store profits goes towards a women's shelter and children's needs.

Hey, if you're in the neighbourhood anyway, pop in, y'might get lucky with a bargooon.

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Rachel / March 23, 2007 at 10:43 am
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I am soon-to-be boycotting Value Village - they are jacking their prices ridiculously!! At the Queen/Broadview location, there were dollar store items for $2!! I'm all for "real" thrift stores!
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Susan / April 1, 2007 at 12:17 pm
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I had recently visited the Canadian Thrift store and i found a lot of brand names like Versachi,Mexx, La Chateau,TOMMY HILFIGER etc. The cloth they sell there are at are very cheap compared to other stores. I had bought Virsachi jeans at such an incredibly low price. I found out that the Canadian Thrift is the best place to shop because you can find brand names at a very very low price!
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Luis Felipe / December 28, 2007 at 08:21 am
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IS THERE A CANADIAN THRIFT STORE IN MONTREAL OR ONLY IN TORONTO??
IF THERE IS, CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME THE DIRECTIONS????
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Danielle / April 1, 2008 at 12:09 pm
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These stores buy used-clothes ?? I just want to know if there is anystore in Canada that buys used clothes !!!
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sharron lahaye / April 26, 2008 at 10:03 am
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I have a shopper of value village for a very long time and will not be shopping there any more as the prices have gone sky high. especially when every thing is donated.and your is all this money goingdo you contribute to a country and where do i find out what value village really does for with the money they recieve for free merchandice
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Marline replying to a comment from sharron lahaye / September 1, 2009 at 09:01 pm
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just go on there site you will learn a lot about value village
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Ken Poulton / May 6, 2010 at 11:15 pm
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As a production supervisor for VV, I can tell you the items "donated" don't come free...we had to pay Canadian Diabetes to have the items delivered from the drop boxes around the province. This is not cheap when it comes to the cost in gas alone. The items donated at the store from you and I is about 1/4 of the donations. Then rest come from pickups the drivers do around town. When you buy an item, part of the monies go to the store to keep it running, part go to the CDA and the what does not get used, goes to a recycling plant.
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Joe Kudlik / October 6, 2011 at 09:49 am
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I worked with some of these stores and I know that they only donate maybe 5% of what they make to charities the rest line their pockets so they drive nice cars.
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djspx / December 27, 2012 at 04:45 am
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I would say that the smaller shops have better prices to attract new customers, but they don't usually last very long because most donations will go to the bigger names like value village. Nice to see some competition in the area though.
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sandi / February 21, 2013 at 08:20 pm
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want the truth about Value Village? try reading some of the articles that have been published and corroborated by employees and management.
http://www.grabnewsmuseviews.ca/jan08/valueVillage.html
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Mameline / February 27, 2013 at 07:38 pm
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Visit this Canadian Secondhand and New items website cheap prices..Free shipping when buy for $75
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