Friday February 2, 2024 | COLWOOD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
People who are looking for bargains — because they have to, or because they want to — are glad that the Women In Need (WIN) store in Colwood continues to be popular.
Pre-pandemic the store was located in Langford but high rent sent them packing in 2020 to find a new location.
Since their grand opening back in July 2023 their operating hours have been expanded to include Sundays.
“We are seeing a lot of support from the community,” says Jasmine Phillip, Marketing & Communications Coordinator, Victoria ?Women in Need Community Cooperative.
New hours:
Located at #2-310 Goldstream Avenue in the small strip mall next to Thrifty Foods in Colwood, the current hours in 2024 are:
- Monday to Saturday: 10 am to 5 pm
- Sundays: 12 noon to 4 pm.
Donation hours have also been expanded, from just a few mornings per week to pretty much now any day at the discretion of the staff.
About WIN:
The store helps low-income families, seniors and others with the cost of living by offering clothing and household items.
Prices are low enough to be affordable but still enough to contribute to the WIN enterprise (there are six WIN stores called resale shops).
WIN is a non-profit community service cooperative with the mission to support women, trans and non-binary people to “move along their own unique journeys”. The thrift stores are an important part of that mission.
Donation inventory:
The full range of inventory — all of it donated — includes clothing for all ages and genders, shoes and other fashion accessories, books, linens, housewares, and furniture.
These economic times:
Given that over 27% of the Canadian population is known to be low-income (over 11 million individuals or households received the federal government’s grocery rebate in July 2023), the need for a low-cost shopping experience is a win-win scenario for individuals and families as well as the WIN mission to support folks in need.
At all WIN Resale Shop locations, customers can get a 25% discount on Tuesdays. Seniors get 25% off on Wednesdays, and all students and teachers get 25% off on Saturdays.
SECTIONS: COLWOOD | ECONOMY | FOOD SECURITY
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke has been writing insight-news since 2008. Her publication series has covered news of the day through broader socioeconomic and political insights in the west shore region as well as key sociopolitical and socioeconomic issues of today’s broader society, as published by Brookeline Publishing House Inc under these mastheads: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), West Shore Voice News (2014-2020), and Island Social Trends (since 2020).
The Island Social Trends print edition (previously West Shore Voice News) launched in January 2024, after a hiatus during the pandemic years. During 2020-2023 news has been published entirely online at IslandSocialTrends.ca and this news portal will continue.
The print-bound copies of MapleLine Magazine, Sooke Voice News and West Shore Voice News are already part of the permanent collections at the Sooke Region Museum.
Ms Brooke now reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery, as part of delivering regional news on Vancouver Island.
In 2023 Mary P Brooke was nominated for the Jack Webster Foundation Shelley Fralic Award to recognize a professional female journalist whose journalism makes a contribution to the community.
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