On Boulevard du Saint-Maurice in Trois-Rivieres, Friperie Comsep has been putting affordable clothing and household goods within reach of low-income shoppers since 1986, when it opened as the first service run by COMSEP, a local community organization built around popular education, family support, and employment training. The shop sells secondhand and some new clothing for adults, children, and babies at prices kept deliberately low, alongside household basics such as dishes, small appliances, toys, and books. The pricing model is intentional: rather than simply giving items away, Comsep charges a small, symbolic amount so shoppers can clothe themselves and furnish their homes while keeping their dignity intact, a philosophy the organization has built into its identity since day one.
Roughly fifty volunteers keep the shop running, sorting donations, staffing the till, and organizing racks of clothing that arrive through two donation bins, one outside the store itself and a second at COMSEP’s main facility elsewhere in Trois-Rivieres. For many of those volunteers, the friperie is more than a place to give back; it also functions as a training ground. Participants in COMSEP’s employment integration program use the shop as a real workplace, learning retail skills, customer service, and the day to day rhythm of running a small business while working toward paid employment elsewhere.
The friperie’s role in the community extends well past the cash register. Staff and volunteers use it as an informal community hub, welcoming new members into COMSEP’s broader programming and pointing shoppers toward other regional resources when a need comes up. Because volunteers spend so much time talking with the people who walk through the door, the shop has also become a kind of early warning system for COMSEP’s wider mission: conversations at the counter have helped identify community members dealing with illiteracy, isolation, or domestic violence, connecting them to appropriate support rather than letting them fall through the cracks.
Located at 749 Boulevard du Saint-Maurice, the shop is reachable by phone at 819-691-2483 for hours and donation questions. Anyone in the Trois-Rivieres area with gently used clothing, dishware, toys, or small appliances to part with can drop items at either donation bin, knowing the proceeds stay local and support COMSEP’s broader family and employment programming rather than a distant head office. That local reinvestment is part of what sets a community run friperie like this apart from a typical secondhand retailer: shoppers are not just finding a deal on a winter coat or a set of dishes, they are directly funding the same organization’s literacy support, family programs, and job training for neighbors navigating poverty.
For nearly four decades, Comsep’s thrift shop has quietly done double duty as both a discount clothing source and a stepping stone into the workforce, a combination that keeps it relevant well beyond the usual secondhand shopping crowd. Shoppers looking for budget friendly clothing, kitchenware, or toys in the Trois-Rivieres area will find a shop where every purchase supports community programming, and where the person behind the counter may well be working toward their next job outside the store. Volunteers also use the shop’s daily foot traffic to steer neighbors toward COMSEP’s other regional resources, turning a simple clothing swap into a wider safety net for the community. Friperie Comsep is a Trois-Rivieres thrift shop where affordable secondhand clothing and household goods fund community programs and job training for local residents in need.
