Value Village Boutique officially opens on South Granville (VIDEO)

Daily Hive

A new Value Village Boutique opened its doors on South Granville Street on Thursday, November 10.

Daily Hive visited the new location – buzzing with bargain hunters – and spoke with Vice President of Business Development Jeff Smail to learn more about the new location.

Value Village Boutique’s goal was to create a relevant shopping experience for the neighbourhood. It doesn’t sell children’s clothing, which takes up a lot of space, and focuses primarily on men’s and women’s clothing and accessories.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daily Hive Vancouver (@dailyhivevancouver)

There are vintage-inspired fixtures like antique mirrors and chandeliers throughout the store, with more to come. They’re even bringing in some more photos to pay homage to Vancouver’s history.

The main level is filled with tightly packed racks of women’s clothing, and downstairs is the men’s section and a small area for books.

Looking through the racks, the items appeared to be in really good condition. Many still had the original price tags on from stores like Zara, Free People, and Uniqlo and were reasonably priced. You’ll find plenty of high-quality items among the racks, indicative of what’s being donated in the neighbourhood.

According to Smail, the 6,000-square-foot store is expected to draw a younger demographic. When similar Value Village Boutique concepts opened in Toronto, 15% of their customers were shoppers who had never been to any of their stores before. So, this new location in Vancouver is likely to draw in plenty of people from the area, especially those who are new to the brand.

There are no changing rooms, but plenty of mirrors throughout the store. According to Smail, the decision not to put change rooms in this location was primarily down to how much space they take up. And they’ve closed the changerooms at the other location on Victoria Drive for various reasons, including COVID-19 safety measures, loss prevention, and overdose prevention.

Value Village’s business model is to accept donations on behalf of charity partners and then pay the charity partners by the pound for the donations they receive.

Between 2017 and 2021, Value Village donated $65 million to its charity partners, and in BC, they’ve helped divert 295 million pounds of waste from the landfill.

While people on social media have been quick to call out Value Village for its pricing practices, Smail said that they’re always willing to look at an item’s price. Pricing mistakes are possible, especially with new staff, and people have been known to move stickers and tags around, too.

Daily Hive broke the news of the new Value Village setting up shop at 2354 Granville Street, formerly an Urban Barn, back in June 2022.

Close to the 99 bus stop and easily accessible from downtown via bus, the central location will become even more connected once the Broadway Subway line construction wraps up, as the forthcoming Granville Station will be just two blocks away.

While this is the second Value Village location in Vancouver, the company also recently opened a location in Port Coquitlam.

The new addition to the thrift scene is welcome after the Hastings Street location burned down earlier this year.

You might also like:

With files from Daily Hive Staff