Home Treasures will be closed until Tuesday, May 25

Home Treasures in Cochrane technically could have remained open with the onset of the increased “Stop the Spike” health protocols, but it was decided that they would hit the pause button for two weeks.

Manager, Caley Breeze says that there were a couple of things that led to the decision to close until May 25. 

The first being operating logistics and the second, that staff and volunteers needed a break.

Home Treasures is a not-for-profit thrift store that sells furniture and household items.

They take in local donations from the community, refurbish and resell them with the profits going back into all local charities and initiatives.

The busy store is run by a board of trustees and a small hardworking group of volunteers and staff.

The operation requires a certain amount of people to process the donations, track the inventory and operate the retail side of things. 

Combine the number of people needed to operate the organization along with new government restrictions dropping clientele to 10% of fire capacity, it just did not make good business sense.

The other reason behind closing was about taking a break from the stress of the pandemic.  

Breeze says the board of trustees that runs the non-profit organization realized that “It’s been a really stressful time period for staff, having to deal with people who don’t want to wear masks, who complain it’s taking too long to get in, to all of those things. They just felt like it was a good time for us to take a little break.”

Home Treasures closed this past Saturday and will remain that way until Tuesday, May 25. 

During the two-week period that they are closed, they will not be taking any donations. Please do not drop anything off outside the building.

There will be no one there to take the donations Breeze says and if donations are dropped off during the closure they will likely end up being thrown away.

Breeze says, “We always love when the community can choose us first, but if they are looking to get rid of stuff they can take into some of the bigger facilities in Calgary like Goodwill and Value Village those are other options during the two weeks when we are closed.”

Of course, you can just wait the two weeks and ensure that your donated items go to helping Home Treasures raise money for our community. 

In 2020, Home Treasures was able to donate back $75,000 to local charities.

Just last week they presented a cheque for $5000 to the Cochrane and Area Humane Society.

Home Treasures does a lot of good things for Cochrane and they have more than earned a well-deserved break over the next two weeks.