Since 1980, Second Glance Clothes Ltd has operated out of 5607B 50th Street in Leduc, a run of more than four decades that lets the shop call itself, with some justification, Leduc’s original thrift store. In that time, the nonprofit has returned more than 1.9 million dollars back into the local community, a figure the organization points to directly as evidence of its founding purpose: every dollar of profit goes back into community programs and initiatives rather than to private owners or shareholders. That nonprofit structure is what separates Second Glance from a typical for profit consignment shop, and it explains why the store has been able to keep operating on the same stretch of 50th Street for so long even as retail in the Leduc area has shifted around it.
The shop’s everyday inventory covers the staples of a community thrift store: affordable clothing and household items meant to serve families across a wide range of budgets and needs. But Second Glance also carries a more specialized layer that sets it apart from a purely functional thrift shop, a curated display case known as Kim’s Collections, featuring vintage toys, unique jewelry, and one of a kind collectibles that draw in browsers looking for something more particular than a rack of secondhand shirts. That mix of everyday practicality and curated, collector minded merchandise gives the store two distinct kinds of regular customers, families stocking up on essentials and collectors checking in on what has newly arrived in the display case.
Leduc sits just south of Edmonton along the Queen Elizabeth II Highway, close to the Edmonton International Airport, and the city has grown steadily as part of the wider Edmonton metro region, even as its downtown core has held onto independent, long running businesses like this one. A store with 45 years of continuous operation in the same town is unusual in retail generally, and it reflects a level of community trust and repeat patronage that newer resale shops have not yet had the chance to build. The organization’s own framing, that all profits go directly back into the community, has clearly resonated with Leduc area donors and shoppers over four and a half decades, since a nonprofit thrift store depends entirely on that community relationship to keep its shelves stocked and its doors open.
For anyone planning a visit, calling ahead at 780-986-1450 or emailing secondglance@shaw.ca is the most reliable way to check current hours and ask whether the shop is accepting donations, since a nonprofit thrift store’s ability to take in new items depends on available space and staffing at any given time. Shoppers hoping to check on Kim’s Collections specifically, or looking for a particular category of vintage toy or collectible, are especially well served by reaching out ahead of a visit, since that curated case rotates independently of the general clothing and household racks.
Second Glance Clothes Ltd is a nonprofit thrift store in Leduc, Alberta that has operated continuously since 1980, returning more than 1.9 million dollars to the local community while offering affordable clothing, household goods, and a curated collectibles display known as Kim’s Collections.
