On its first day of operation, Piviniit Thrift Store had almost nothing on the floor except empty tables. That memory, shared years later by longtime volunteer and now-treasurer Linda Ham, captures how far this small Iqaluit shop has grown since it opened its doors around 2009. Entirely volunteer-run and organized as a non-profit society, Piviniit exists to do three things at once: keep affordable clothing and household goods within reach of Iqaluit residents, keep still-usable items out of the landfill in a city where waste disposal is a genuine challenge, and give volunteers a supportive place to build job skills. By the time the store marked its tenth anniversary, it celebrated with a stuff-a-bag sale that let shoppers fill an entire garbage bag with finds for ten dollars, and the aisles were packed with bag-clutching Iqalungmiut taking advantage of the deal, a good measure of how central the shop has become to daily life in the community.
Everything on the shelves arrives as a donation from Iqaluit residents, which means the inventory shifts constantly and can include anything from everyday clothing and housewares to the occasional piece of local craftwork or Inuit art passed along by a community member. That donation-driven model keeps prices low year-round, making Piviniit a genuine resource for lower-income households and a practical stop for anyone in Iqaluit looking to furnish a home, clothe a family, or simply find a bargain rather than buying new goods shipped in at Nunavut’s famously high cost of living. The store now operates out of building 778 on Fred Coman Drive, having relocated there after outgrowing earlier space, and keeps a compact but reliable schedule: Thursday evenings from 6 to 8:30pm and Saturdays from 10am to 3pm, hours built around when volunteers are available to staff the till and sort incoming donations.
What makes Piviniit stand out from a typical thrift shop is that there is no paid staff behind any of it. Every hour the doors are open depends on community members volunteering their time, sorting donated goods, and running the register, and the society is consistently looking for more volunteers to keep pace with demand. That volunteer backbone has let the organization survive and grow for well over a decade in a small Arctic city where retail options are limited and shipping costs make new goods expensive, giving Piviniit an outsized role in the local economy relative to its modest storefront. Shoppers who show up on a Thursday evening or Saturday afternoon will find a genuinely community-built selection rather than a curated boutique, which is exactly the point: donations in, affordable goods out, with any proceeds supporting the society’s continued poverty-reduction work in Iqaluit.
For residents of Iqaluit and visitors to Nunavut’s capital alike, Piviniit offers an accessible way to shop secondhand, donate unwanted goods, or volunteer time toward a cause with a direct, visible impact on the community. Piviniit Thrift Store is a volunteer-run, donation-based shop in Iqaluit that has spent more than fifteen years reducing waste and easing the cost of living for Nunavut residents, open Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons at its Fred Coman Drive location.
