On Invermere’s main street at 1229 7th Avenue, the Invermere Health Care Auxiliary Thrift Shop has spent decades turning donated goods into direct funding for healthcare across the Columbia Valley. The shop sells gently used clothing, housewares, books, jewelry, linens, toys, and artwork, though it does not accept large electronics or furniture, keeping the space focused on smaller, easy-to-browse categories that turn over quickly. Shoppers can visit Thursday through Saturday from 10 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, while donors are asked to bring items on Wednesdays from 9 to 4 or Thursdays from 10 to 5, dropping off at a dedicated back entrance area set up specifically to keep the sorting process organized and efficient.
The organization behind the store, the Invermere Health Care Auxiliary Society, is a registered charity whose roots reach back further than most volunteer groups in the region. Community fundraising for local healthcare in the Columbia Valley dates to 1910, and the Auxiliary itself was formally founded in 1977, making the thrift shop the modern continuation of more than a century of neighbors organizing to support hospital and health services close to home. The current storefront, renovated and reopened in 2014, gave the operation improved accessibility and more workable space for the volunteers who keep it running day to day.
Those volunteers are the backbone of the entire operation. Approximately 150 people donate their time to the Auxiliary, together logging more than 27,000 volunteer hours in a typical year sorting donations, pricing merchandise, and staffing the till. That labor translates directly into dollars for healthcare: since 2001, the Auxiliary has contributed over 4.4 million dollars to improving and enhancing care in the Columbia Valley, and in 2025 alone the organization donated 370,008 dollars, with 185,500 of that total distributed as bursaries and scholarships supporting students pursuing health-related education and training.
That funding reaches well beyond the walls of the thrift shop itself. The Auxiliary’s donations support local hospitals, emergency services, and community health organizations throughout the valley, meaning every purchase of a secondhand sweater, a used novel, or a piece of costume jewelry helps underwrite equipment, programs, and training that keep healthcare accessible in a rural mountain community where services can otherwise be stretched thin. For residents and visitors passing through Invermere, browsing the shop offers a simple way to find affordable secondhand goods while contributing to a cause with a long, well-documented local track record. The steady rhythm of donation days followed by sale days also gives the store a dependable cycle that regular customers learn to watch for, since freshly sorted clothing, books, and household items tend to appear on the floor not long after each collection window closes at the back entrance.
Because the shop sits directly on Invermere’s main street, it draws both longtime Columbia Valley residents and the seasonal visitors who pass through the town on their way to nearby lakes and mountain recreation areas, giving the Auxiliary a wider customer base than a purely residential thrift shop might expect. That foot traffic, combined with the volunteer labor behind the counter, has helped the organization keep its fundraising totals climbing even as operating costs for running a storefront continue to rise across small mountain towns.
The Invermere Health Care Auxiliary Thrift Shop stands, in short, as a century-rooted community fundraising effort disguised as a small-town secondhand store, one where every sale on 7th Avenue helps pay for better healthcare across the Columbia Valley.
