Nanaimo, B.C. thrift shop closing because customers ‘don’t feel safe coming down here’

A popular thrift store in downtown Nanaimo, B.C., is closing its doors next month because customers have told the owner they no longer feel safe shopping there.

On May 18, the Friends of Haven Thrift Shop at 451 Albert St. will be closing for good.

“We have a lot of supporters, because it helps fill a few different needs,” owner Madeline Crane told Global News.

“One, recycling is a big deal now — people don’t want to throw things away as much as they used to. And, also, there’s a lot of people who can’t afford to buy the necessities in life. So we try to keep our prices for necessities very low.”

Crane said they also support the Haven Society, which runs a transition house for women. They can get gift certificates for the store and shop for what they need for free. She said they also give the Haven Society a percentage of their profits at the end of the year.

“Unfortunately, we have not made any profit for quite so many years,” she added.

The Friends of Haven Thrift Shop has been in Nanaimo for 26 years and 19 of those years at its present location on Albert Street.

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Crane said the last few years have become increasingly challenging.

“It’s a challenging business anyway, but it has become a little bit more challenging because lately, we have a lot of drug addicts and mentally ill people, homeless people who don’t have any place that they can stay permanently,” she said, adding that they have started seeing open drug use in front of their store.

“Business has definitely declined a lot, because of the economy,” Crane said.

“We would think that the business would pick up because we have things that are at a lesser price. Unfortunately, people don’t feel safe coming down here, and we hear that on a daily basis that they avoid downtown.”

Regina Dirke said she was very sad to learn the store was closing down.

“This is my favourite thrift store,” she said. “It helped me get back on my feet, get me a new pair of shoes. I’ve always come here.”

Crane said the store is now no longer making enough money to pay the bills and they had to make the difficult decision to close.

“I mean, it is a business that has been beloved in this town for 26 years,” she said.

“So it’s a tough one for sure.”

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The Nanaimo Area Public Safety Association said it wants the B.C. government to immediately end its drug decriminalization program.

Kevin Shaw from the association told Global News that the news of Haven’s closure is sad and frustrating.

“Here comes another business that is having troubles because of the social disorder that is plaguing our streets, taking a bite out of everybody’s lives and businesses closing, people hard hit not only on the street, but trying to run a business, trying to live in their homes,” he said.

Shaw said Crane’s story is not unique.

“The property owners cannot get people to come in and lease because of the social disorder that is going on with people lighting fires in entryways or beside buildings while they cook their drugs, leaving their needles, defaecating,” he added.

“These are people that are not well mentally and need to be taken care of.”

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Leonard Krog, the mayor of Nanaimo, told Global News it doesn’t help the city’s reputation.

“It gives me an opportunity to say, notwithstanding, the social disorder that people see, you are essentially still safe on the streets of Nanaimo, where it always has been. But nobody wants to see that kind of street disorder, poverty, open drug use, people with mental health and addiction issues. They want the problem solved.”

Krog said while they can increase police patrols in the area but it doesn’t get to the root of the problem.

“You have people in our streets who should be in secure, involuntary care, and you have a whole bunch of other folks who need supportive housing where they could start to deal with their addiction, mental health, brain injury, and trauma issues that are so common amongst those who are living in the streets, let alone the smaller population if you will, who are simply just poor and need a place to live,” he said.