Inside Northridge Mall at 5800 Turner Road in Nanaimo, British Columbia, the Nanaimo Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Store operates as the retail and fundraising arm of the auxiliary supporting Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. The store is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm, with donations accepted during the same days from 9 am to 3 pm, and it is accessible directly via Nanaimo’s bus route number 40 for shoppers without a car. Day to day operations are overseen by manager Gerry Denis, reachable at 250-729-8241 for donation questions or general inquiries.
Unlike a typical thrift shop with mixed, unsorted racks, this store is organized into distinct departments, an approach management has used deliberately to create what they describe as an upscale secondhand shopping experience rather than a jumble sale feel. Staff and volunteer managers curate incoming donations closely, and items judged unsuitable for the sales floor are redirected to community partners such as Big Brothers and Crossroads Pregnancy Centre rather than discarded, extending the usefulness of donated goods even when they do not fit the store’s own merchandising standards.
That curation has translated into real foot traffic: the store reports serving between 500 and 700 customers on a typical day, a volume that would be notable for any secondhand retailer and reflects Nanaimo’s reliance on the shop as a go to source for affordable household goods, clothing, and other donated merchandise. The scale also means proceeds channel back to the hospital in meaningful amounts, funding equipment and initiatives at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital that the auxiliary supports through years of volunteer run retail operations.
The store’s reputation locally has been recognized beyond just repeat customer counts. It won first place for Best Consignment or Thrift Store in the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce’s Best of the City awards in 2019, and it continued to earn reader recognition through 2024, a sustained run that speaks to consistent community support rather than a single good year. For a volunteer driven auxiliary thrift shop, competing successfully against for profit consignment and thrift retailers for that kind of recognition over multiple years is a meaningful differentiator worth noting for shoppers weighing where to donate or spend their money.
Location matters too. Northridge Mall sits in a busy retail corridor on Turner Road, giving the thrift store steady visibility and easy parking alongside other everyday shopping stops, while the direct bus route connection keeps it accessible to shoppers across Nanaimo who do not drive. That combination of convenience, curated merchandising, and a clear charitable mission has helped the store build the kind of loyal, high volume customer base that pure convenience alone would not explain.
For residents of Nanaimo looking for secondhand clothing, housewares, and goods organized by department rather than piled together, while directly supporting Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, the Nanaimo Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Store at Northridge Mall offers an award winning, community trusted alternative to standard thrift shopping, open six days a week counting donation hours, and staffed by volunteers dedicated to the hospital’s ongoing needs.
