Ten Thousand Villages to close up shop

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This article was published 09/06/2023 (686 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The end of summer will also mean the end for Steinbach’s independently run Ten Thousand Villages location.

The store continued running under the Ten Thousand Villages U.S. branding with permission from Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba after the company shut down its Canadian storefronts in 2020.

That agreement recently expired and, coupled with the pandemic and the costs of importing product from the U.S., resulted in the decision to close the Steinbach location permanently.

“The cost of duties, tariffs and shipping was just too much. There’s even less money to be made than there was before,” said Dave Thiessen, general manager of MCC Steinbach. “Those things all kind of factored into this decision that it’s just not a workable arrangement. It’s just not a sustainable arrangement anymore.”

Thiessen said the Steinbach Ten Thousand Villages store always ran at a loss and as a result the MCC was supporting it financially to keep the business up and running.

“We were okay with that because of the perceived good that it was doing with the artisans in developing countries,” Thiessen said.

Thiessen, who recently came back from 10 days in Columbia to visit charity projects run by the MCC, said the closure of Ten Thousand Villages will allow them to be more direct with their support. Without having the store depend on revenue from MCC to run, the money can go toward programing for humanitarian work and peace building.

Groups that receive funding from the MCC use it to buy food hampers, create programming to help those in developing countries become self-sustaining, advocate for their rights, and offer them micro-loans.

“When I see all that working, I don’t feel bad about redirecting that money to some of these other projects where they’re really doing a lot of hands-on work,” he said.

Thiessen doesn’t believe that the closure of this store will affect artisans whose products they bought considering the number of locations that are still open south of the border.

He added that there are many stores that sell fair trade products in Canada and that there is no longer a need for MCC to facilitate the sales.

The store was run by volunteers, one manager and one part-time employee.

“When it comes to our staff that have been there, the volunteers that have been working there, they have all done a fantastic job,” Thiessen said. “This situation is not… due to any shortcoming of anybody there.”

Thiessen is unsure what will happen to the building Ten Thousand Villages occupies at the moment but said that decision is up to the board. Two apartment suites above the store are leased out for another year.

Stores in Brandon, MB; Cobourg, ON; and Abbotsford, BC continue to operate. Products can still be purchased online from nearly 50 stores in the United States.

The Steinbach location will officially close on Aug. 31. Any remaining product will be liquidated at the MCC.