Thanks to a devoted team at St. Andrew's, a new Ten Thousand Villages store on the quaint main street of Picton, Ont., is planning to open for the May long weekend.
“Prince Edward County – and Picton especially – have become big tourist destinations,” said Rev. Lynne Donovan, who spearheaded the initiative. “So we asked, how can we take advantage of the strengths of our context to make an impact? This store was perfect.”
Ten Thousand Villages is a non-profit, fair trade organization with 49 permanent locations across Canada. Some stores are corporately owned and operated, but others function under a partnership agreement. They are staffed by volunteers working with a paid manager.
“When we're looking into a partnership, we first look at the people,” said Beverly Hiebert, director of sales for Canada at Ten Thousand Villages. “Is there enough energy or driving force to support a store long-term? Then we look at the community. Is there a potential volunteer base?”
When an elder who owned a storefront building passed away, Donovan and a handful of members took out a $200,000 line of credit and became “the friendly landlords.”
“They called us, and by the time we got there they'd already bought a building,” Hiebert said with a laugh. “We were blown away. We met with them and before we knew it they had us totally convinced. If anyone can make this work in a small community, they can.”
A 17-day pre-Christmas sale at the fledging location grossed $38,500 in sales, a respectable amount according to Hiebert.
$40,000 is required for start up expenses at the new location. By mid-February the St. Andrew's group had secured $15,000, mostly from private and corporate donations outside the congregation.
“It's really coming out of the stewards by design model,” said Donovan. “People want to do something real for the developing world, and they see Ten Thousand Villages as a great way to do that.”
A board of directors including six members from St. Andrew's and two from the community will govern the store.
