Alma, Quebec, sitting on the shores of Lac Saint-Jean, is home to one of the three thrift stores operated by Groupe Coderr, a nonprofit network better known locally as La Friperie de Coderr. The Alma store shares a mission and a supply chain with sister locations in Saguenay and Dolbeau-Mistassini, and together the three shops account for more than 15,000 square feet of combined retail space serving the wider Lac-Saint-Jean territory.
The Alma location stocks the same broad mix found across the network: secondhand clothing for men, women, and children, plus toys, books, household items, luggage, and sports equipment. Roughly 3,000 items move through the organization’s stores every single day, and inventory is refreshed on a monthly rotation, meaning a shopper who visits Alma in one month and again the next is likely to find an entirely different selection on the racks. The organization sums up this constant turnover with a tagline that translates to much more than just clothing, capturing the idea that a Coderr store is as much a community hub as it is a retail floor.
The real differentiator for Alma shoppers is what happens behind the scenes. Groupe Coderr has run its thrift operation for more than 20 years with a specific socioeconomic integration mandate: helping people who are distant from the job market, receiving social assistance, or otherwise without a steady income gain real, hands-on work experience. Across the network the organization employs about 40 permanent staff, a meaningful share of whom moved through its own training and insertion programs in sorting, pricing, merchandising, and customer service before landing steady positions. The roughly 110,000 donations the network receives each year, supplemented by about 20 donation boxes placed around the region, supply both the retail floor and the training pipeline at once. Area businesses can request a Coderr donation box for their own premises, a service the organization markets as an easy way for employers to combine sustainability with community investment.
For residents of Alma and the surrounding Lac-Saint-Jean communities, shopping at the local Coderr store means every dollar spent supports that same local job-training mission rather than a distant head office, and every bag of donated clothing gets a second life instead of ending up in a landfill. Being one of three anchor locations rather than a single standalone shop also means the Alma store benefits from a shared donation stream and shared operational support across the wider Groupe Coderr organization, even as it serves its own distinct base of Alma-area donors and shoppers.
Exact opening hours for the Alma store are not published in detail on the organization’s general materials, so shoppers planning a visit are encouraged to check the Friperie de Coderr website or call ahead, particularly since seasonal donation volume can affect what categories are best stocked on a given week. Families furnishing a first apartment, parents outfitting growing kids, and anyone looking to shop more sustainably will all find a reason to stop in.
In short, the Alma location of La Friperie de Coderr turns everyday secondhand shopping into direct support for local job training and environmental diversion, making it one of Lac-Saint-Jean’s most purpose-driven places to find affordable clothing and household goods.
