Tucked into the Yukon Inn Plaza on 4th Avenue, Love2Thrift, also known as the Whitehorse Community Thrift Store, has grown into one of the territory’s most trusted spots to buy and donate secondhand goods. The store came into being after the Salvation Army thrift store in Whitehorse closed its doors in 2017, leaving a gap in affordable shopping that a group of local organizers decided to fill with a made-in-Yukon alternative. Rather than operating as a typical resale shop skimming profit for owners, Love2Thrift runs as a self-sustaining social enterprise, meaning the money it earns from selling donated clothing, housewares, small furniture, books, and other everyday items gets cycled right back into the Whitehorse community rather than out of the territory entirely.
Shoppers can visit Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, a compact but consistent schedule that regulars have come to plan their week around. Because Whitehorse sits far from major distribution hubs, secondhand shopping plays an outsized role in daily life here, and Love2Thrift has positioned itself as the go-to option for residents furnishing a first apartment, dressing kids who are quickly outgrowing last season’s clothes, or simply looking to reduce how much usable material ends up in the landfill. Donations are typically accepted by appointment at the organization’s warehouse, and the team also arranges pickups across Whitehorse neighborhoods, plus occasional drop-off days at the retail storefront itself for smaller loads of clothing or housewares.
What genuinely sets this thrift store apart is its Sharing Our Success program, known locally as SOS, which launched in 2021 and has since become a defining feature of how the business operates. Each year, Love2Thrift takes a share of its retail proceeds and redistributes them as grants to Yukon nonprofit organizations and community projects, with funding going toward initiatives that promote financial sustainability, environmental stewardship, or community connection. Reporting from Yukon News and CHON-FM has tracked the scale of this giving, noting distributions reaching tens of thousands of dollars in a single year and a cumulative total that has climbed past one hundred thousand dollars donated back into local causes over the program’s history. That is a remarkable figure for a thrift store operating out of a modest plaza storefront, and it reflects a business model built explicitly around community reinvestment rather than pure retail growth.
The store describes its own mission in terms of sparking joy through affordable finds, reducing waste, fostering a sense of belonging, and making tangible financial contributions to other Yukon organizations, and that four-part approach shows up in how the shop is run day to day. Volunteers and staff sort donated goods with care, price items to stay accessible to a wide range of budgets, and keep the sales floor welcoming to newcomers and longtime Whitehorse residents alike. Applications for SOS grants are available both in person at the 4th Avenue location and online, giving local nonprofits a direct path to apply for support drawn straight from the community’s own shopping habits.
For visitors and residents exploring Whitehorse’s approach to sustainable, community-minded retail, Love2Thrift offers a compact but meaningful stop: a not-for-profit thrift store where every purchase of secondhand clothing or housewares helps fund grants for other Yukon nonprofits. Love2Thrift, the Whitehorse Community Thrift Store, is a not-for-profit secondhand shop on 4th Avenue that has redirected well over one hundred thousand dollars in proceeds back into Yukon community organizations since launching its Sharing Our Success grant program in 2021.
