Guelph thrift and consignment map helps in search for hidden treasures

“It’s definitely the thrill of the hunt” for thrift and consignment shops in Guelph. Now the shops are mapped out for people to try and find their next hidden treasure in the way of clothes, shoes, accessories, furniture and decor.

It started when Smitten Apparel owner Holly Mastrogiacomo started drawing a makeshift map for her customers who wanted to keep thrift shopping when they were visiting from other places. The city came out with a grant through the Market Material Development Fund so Mastrogiacomo decided to take the map up a notch, apply for the grant and when she secured it Ampersand Printing in Guelph brought her map to life.

The map has 16 locations for thrift and consignment stores in the city. It’s been circulating for the last couple of weeks but Mastrogiacomo said the official launch was on Monday. It can be accessed online or people can pick up a copy at any of the locations featured on the map.

Thrifting often means money to buy items goes back to a non-profit organization, or a charity. Consignment is when people bring items to a shop and either buy the items outright or wait until things are sold. Then the person gets a portion of the sale price. Vintage is often higher-end brands and harder to find items with a higher price tag to match.

Although the shops on the map are competitors, there is a sense of helping each other out. Mastrogiacomo gave an example of a couple shops that switched to the same point-of-sale system and they would give each other tips on how to use it.

“It’s definitely the thrill of the hunt,” said Mastrogiacomo. The point now is that the stores are full of items and for customers they “... don't even really need to buy new items anymore, because there's so much in second hand.”

With the media talking about fast fashion with more trends, endless seasons and showing where clothes end up it helps people consider thrifting. “Guelph is already known as kind of like an earth friendly city. So it just made sense to encourage thrift and consignment shopping,” said Mastrogiacomo. 

The map seems to be helping tourists on their shopping trips. She has had people from Kansas come in with the map with the locations circled that they had already been to that day. 

Every shop has their own specialty or niche, said Mastrogiacomo. People who are from Guelph look at the map and realize there are shops they hadn’t heard of before, she said.

She hopes the map brings out more customers to keep the shops busy in the next couple of months. If the grant comes up again maybe someone would want to do a map of the vintage shops, she said.