The Olive Tree is preparing to open their reclaim store and their thrift store as the city moves into phase 2 of reopening.
Assistant Executive Director Jana Thompson says both stores are now ready to open their doors.
“We’re a little bit nervous to see how it goes but we’re very excited to open and see everybody again. [We’re excited] to have at least a little bit of a normal schedule and get back to things.”
Thompson says they’ve been making sure to clean and sanitize all their items ahead of the opening.
“We’ll have hand sanitizing stations and social distancing will be in place making sure we’re following the Saskatchewan health guidelines very closely.”
The Olive Tree has been taking in donations while the store was closed over the past few weeks. Donated clothes and other cloth items have been set aside for 72 hours before being stocked in the store.
The items are quarantined to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 as per the Saskatchewan governments recommendations. The changing rooms in the thrift store will stay closed for the time being as a precaution.
“We want to reduce the risk for our staff and other people. It is a thrift store so it is a bit easier for us to do it than a normal clothing store.”
The reclaim store will also be opening for the first time on Tuesday. The store was originally planned to open in March but due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions put in place it wasn’t able to.
“It is fully stocked. We’ve actually had to expand into a different area that we weren’t planning to have filled with store stock but now it’s fully stocked. We’re excited for people to come check it out and check out the new office.”
Farmer’s markets are also able to open on May 19 but Thompson says the one in their building won’t open quite yet.
“We’re going to wait until about the beginning of June to reopen. We’re going to play it by ear and right now we have a ton of great stuff to stock in our thrift store so a lot of our other areas became storage within this time period.”
The thrift store will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. to allow employees to clean the store. The reclaim store located on 6306-50 Avenue will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.