Deal alert: This Calgary thrift store prices everything $5 or less
Jack Prince, a lifelong thrifter and owner of The Thrift Store, opened his store in January of 2025, with the idea of keeping thrifting alive, and most importantly, affordable.
“I’ve thrifted my entire life, and in 2023, it just got to such a degree at other stores that I just felt that it didn’t feel like thrifting anymore,” Prince said when speaking with Daily Hive.
“I have so many memories of good thrifting, and I just wanted to keep that going in some way, shape or form, and I eventually came to the conclusion that if I wanted to keep thrifting alive the way I see fit, I have to get a store going the way I see fit.”
So that’s exactly what he did. In a recent TikTok, Prince shared that almost everything at The Thrift Store, located at 430 Acadia Dr. SE, is priced at $5 or less, from $5 shoes to $3 short-sleeve shirts.
@the.thrift.store.yyc #thrifting #thrift #yyc #toy #canada_life🇨🇦 ♬ original sound – The Thrift Store
“I know that if I’m doing the right thing, if my heart’s in the right place, eventually more people will find the store.”
The prices are so low that Prince says people often tell him he should charge more, but he refuses.
“More often than not, people try and convince me that I have to raise my prices,… and I’m just not doing that.”
Beyond running the thrift store, Prince has made community outreach a big part of his mission.
“I do outreach every Sunday as well, we go out and feed the homeless and clothe the homeless,” he said, “I use the store’s funds for a lot of that money, but people are starting to catch on to what we’re doing, and they’re actually specifically starting to donate for that cause.”
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Prince says that giving back, through outreach and running his store, is what keeps him motivated.
“I look at it as a form of supplying people who don’t have very much money with exactly what they need in their life. I look at it differently than a lot of other stores, and that’s my main objective.”
The Thrift Store
Where: 430 Acadia Dr. SE
Hours: Monday and Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.