Wildlife Thrift Store

What Wildlife Thrift Store does

Wildlife Thrift Store is a privately held, family-owned retail thrift store operating two flagship locations in Vancouver and Toronto, Canada. Founded in 1997 and reorganized under current ownership in 2001, the company sells donated gently used clothing, accessories, furniture, home décor, books, and electronics at affordable everyday low prices. The Vancouver flagship occupies a 7,000 square foot heritage building at 1295 Granville St (originally built in 1917 as Dixon's Motors), and the Toronto flagship opened on February 14, 2022 at 67 Front St E in the Old Town neighbourhood, near the iconic Gooderham Building and St. Lawrence Market. Both stores operate daily from 10am to 8pm, accepting community donations of goods without appointment during store hours.

The business model is straightforward physical retail: inbound inventory is sourced from community donations at near-zero cost, items are sorted and priced for individual unit sale, and unsold goods are recycled through a partnership with Diabetes Canada. The company distributes a portion of proceeds to local charities on a quarterly basis, reaching $164,500 in 2024 (up from $151,500 in 2023 and $129,500 in 2022) across partners including Covenant House Vancouver and Toronto, Coast Mental Health, The Gathering Place, Greater Vancouver Food Bank, and Food Banks and Meal Hubs in Marpole. Pricing is unit-based with no subscription or volume tiers, no senior or student discounts (a deliberate 'keep prices low for everyone' policy), and First Nations customers are eligible for tax exemption upon valid documentation.

The company has 11-50 employees, no institutional investors, no funding rounds, no parent company, and operates on a Wix-hosted website with no mobile app, API, proprietary software, or e-commerce channel. Distribution is exclusively in-person across two physical storefronts. The company differentiates on community partnership depth, a pet-friendly in-store policy, change rooms for trying items on, and a 2-week return window on electronics. Wildlife Thrift Store is not pursuing technology-led growth, digital channels, or external capital; expansion to date has been limited to the single Toronto store opening in 2022.

Name

Wildlife Thrift Store

Legal name

Wildlife Thrift Store

Website

https://wildlifethriftstore.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Wildlife Thrift Store is a family-owned thrift retailer operating two flagship stores in Vancouver and Toronto. The company sells donated gently used clothing, accessories, home goods, and electronics at affordable prices, with proceeds supporting local charities focused on homelessness, mental health, and food security.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Secondhand Retail

NAICS

Used Merchandise Retailers (459510), Used Merchandise Retailers (4595)

SIC

Retail-Miscellaneous Shopping Goods Stores (5940), Retail-Apparel & Accessory Stores (5600)

akta.pro primary industry

Sporting Goods & Outdoor Gear Resale (CRAFAGAH)

Keywords

• Secondhand retail
• Thrift store
• Donated goods resale
• Charitable retail
• Affordable clothing

Headquarters

HQ city

Vancouver

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Retail Sales of Donated Goods: Revenue generated from selling donated gently used clothing, accessories, furniture, home décor, books, and electronics at affordable prices in physical retail storefronts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Wildlife Thrift Store is a dual-location physical thrift retail business that accepts donated gently used clothing, accessories, furniture, home décor, books, and electronics and resells them at affordable prices to individual consumers. A portion of proceeds is donated quarterly to local charities supporting homelessness, mental health, addiction, and food security programs, and unsold items are recycled through Diabetes Canada.

Product overview

Wildlife Thrift Store is a dual-location retail thrift store operation offering gently used clothing, accessories, furniture, home décor, books, and electronics. The business operates two flagship stores: the original Vancouver location on Granville Street (opened 2001) and a newer Toronto flagship (opened February 2022). As a for-profit business with a charitable mission, it accepts donations from the community, resells items at affordable prices, and makes regular quarterly donations to local charities supporting homelessness, mental health, and addiction programs. The company also recycles unsold items through Diabetes Canada partnerships.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Wildlife Thrift Store Retail Operations A retail thrift store offering gently used clothing, accessories, furniture, home décor, books, and electronics at affordable prices to individual consumers, with proceeds donated to local charities supporting homelessness, mental health, and addiction initiatives.
• Vancouver Store The original flagship retail location at 1295 Granville St, Vancouver, BC, spanning approximately 7,000 square feet, selling donated secondhand goods to walk-in customers.
• Toronto Store Second flagship retail location at 67 Front St E, Toronto, ON, selling donated secondhand clothing, accessories, furniture, home décor, books, and electronics to walk-in customers.
• Donation Services Community donation drop-off service accepting gently used clothing, furniture, home décor, books, electronics, chairs, coffee and side tables, and TVs during store hours, with no appointment required. Does not accept large furniture, bed-related items, printers, baby toys or baby equipment.

Quantifiable outcome

• Donated $164,500 to local charities in 2024, the highest year yet

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Covenant House TorontocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCovenant House Toronto is a leading non-profit serving youth who are homeless, trafficked, or at risk. As Canada's largest agency serving young people in need, they offer emergency shelter, healthcare, education, job training, and counseling. Wildlife Thrift Store channels donated items to them and supplies goods on-demand as well as providing funds. Wildlife Thrift Store was featured on their donation page in 2023.
• Covenant House VancouvercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing partnership with Covenant House in Vancouver. Wildlife Thrift Store channels donated items and provides goods on-demand as well as funds to support homeless and at-risk youth services.
• Coast Mental HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegular quarterly donations made to Coast Mental Health, supporting their programs for people experiencing mental health issues.
• The Gathering PlacecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegular quarterly donations made to The Gathering Place, supporting community programs.
• Greater Vancouver Food BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegular quarterly donations made to Greater Vancouver Food Bank, supporting food security initiatives in Vancouver.
• Food Banks and Meal Hubs in MarpoleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegular quarterly donations support food banks and meal hubs in the Marpole neighbourhood of Vancouver.
• Diabetes CanadacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUnsold items are recycled through partnership with Diabetes Canada organization. This ensures gently used goods are diverted from landfills and continue to support charitable causes even if they don't find a new home in the store. Part of Wildlife Thrift Store's commitment to sustainability and community impact.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Buffalo Exchange: Buffalo Exchange is a U.S. resale clothing chain that buys, sells, and trades secondhand fashion. It is comparable to Wildlife Thrift Store in its secondhand apparel model, although it focuses more narrowly on clothing and on a buy-sell rather than donation supply model.
• Talize: Talize is a Canadian thrift store chain with a similar model of buying and reselling gently used clothing, accessories, and household goods. It operates across multiple provinces and competes for the same value-conscious and sustainability-driven shoppers as Wildlife Thrift Store.
• Value Village: Value Village is a large for-profit thrift store chain operating across Canada and the U.S., selling donated secondhand clothing, accessories, and home goods at affordable prices. It is the closest direct comparable to Wildlife Thrift Store in business model, customer demographic, and product mix.
• Plato's Closet: Plato's Closet is a U.S. franchise specializing in buying and reselling gently used teen and young adult clothing. While focused on apparel rather than full-line thrift, it shares Wildlife Thrift Store's buy-donate-resell secondhand model and value-shopper demographic.
• Goodwill Industries: Goodwill is a major nonprofit thrift retailer that resells donated goods and channels proceeds into workforce and community programs. It directly competes for thrift shoppers and donation supply, with the same charitable-mission overlay that differentiates Wildlife Thrift Store.
• MCC Thrift Shops: MCC Thrift Shops are a Canadian nonprofit thrift chain reselling donated clothing and household items to fund relief and development work. It shares Wildlife Thrift Store's donation-driven, charitable, multi-store Canadian footprint.
• Salvation Army Thrift Stores: The Salvation Army operates thrift stores across Canada selling donated clothing and household goods with proceeds supporting social programs. It is a direct peer in terms of assortment, price positioning, charitable mission, and physical-store model.

Emerging players

• Poshmark: Poshmark is a peer-to-peer online marketplace for new and used clothing and accessories. It overlaps with Wildlife Thrift Store's target shopper base (value-conscious, sustainability-minded consumers) but competes through a different (digital P2P) business model.
• Depop: Depop is an online resale marketplace popular with younger buyers of secondhand fashion. It targets a similar thrift and resale shopper as Wildlife Thrift Store but operates entirely online and skews toward vintage and streetwear.
• ThredUp: ThredUp is a large online resale platform for secondhand apparel and accessories. It represents the digital channel that Wildlife Thrift Store does not currently operate in, and competes for the same secondhand-conscious shopper via a fundamentally different (online) delivery model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/wildlifethrift
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheWildlifeThriftStore
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wildlife-thrift-store-ltd
• Instagraminstagram.com/wix

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wildlife Thrift Store