Tucked into the Rexall Plaza at 2 Elgin Park Drive in Uxbridge, Chances Are is a volunteer-run thrift shop that exists for one purpose: raising money for the Uxbridge Cottage Hospital through the Uxbridge Cottage Hospital Auxiliary. Every item on the racks and shelves has been donated by someone in the community, then sorted, priced, and displayed by a rotating team of local volunteers who treat the store as a small-scale recycling operation as much as a retail space. Anything that does not sell is passed along to other recycling organizations rather than sent to landfill, so almost nothing that comes through the donation doors goes to waste.
The inventory reflects a household’s full range of everyday needs rather than a single specialty. Shoppers will find new and gently used adult and children’s clothing alongside shoes, hats, purses, and jewellery. Beyond apparel, the shop carries household linens, small housewares, and small furnishings, plus a well-stocked corner of toys, games, puzzles, and books for younger shoppers and their families. Because the selection turns over constantly with fresh donations, regular visitors describe the experience as a genuine treasure hunt, with prices kept low enough that a full basket of finds rarely strains a budget.
Chances Are keeps a simple, dependable schedule. The store is open to shoppers Tuesday through Saturday from 9 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. Donations are welcomed on a slightly longer schedule, Monday through Saturday from 8 until 4, dropped at the double doors behind the building; anyone unsure where to go is encouraged to ring the doorbell for assistance. That six-day donation window, one day longer than the shop is open to browse, makes it easy for Uxbridge residents doing a closet clean-out to drop things off on their own schedule without waiting for a specific sale day.
What sets Chances Are apart from a typical secondhand shop is how directly its bottom line connects to the community it serves. Every dollar earned at the register supports the local hospital rather than a distant head office or an unrelated cause, and the store marked a full year of operation at its current Elgin Park Drive location, a milestone volunteers celebrated together with cake, a small but telling sign of how tightly the shop is woven into town life. Run by neighbours for neighbours, it is the kind of fundraising thrift store that small Ontario towns depend on to keep local healthcare services funded without relying solely on government budgets or large one-time donor gifts.
For anyone in Uxbridge or the surrounding Durham Region looking to shop secondhand with a clear conscience, Chances Are offers an easy answer: browse a rotating mix of clothing, household goods, toys, and books six days a week, knowing that every purchase and every donation directly supports care at the Uxbridge Cottage Hospital. In short, Chances Are is a volunteer-staffed community thrift shop in Uxbridge, Ontario where secondhand shopping funds local hospital care.
