Get Thrifty UBC is the first and only thrift store on UBC Vancouver campus. Founded in February 2020, the store is supported and run by students. We are entirely donation-based and offer consignment services as well.
Feel free to send any inquiries through our social media channels. We would love to hear from you!
"Get Thrifty's goal is to integrate design and sustainability in an accessible service to the UBC community by reducing waste/carbon emissions through facilitating a circular economy of secondhand goods."
- Rain Chen, Founder
What Sets Us Apart
We pride ourselves on our high standard of curation, affordable prices, design creation, and a tight knit community.
1. We have a dedicated team of curators, store staff, and design media executives that sort, stock, and promote all merchandise. This includes sanitizing through steaming, market research for consignment items, and photoshoots/graphic designs for our design feed.
2. Get Thrifty caps all donated resale items at $20 (highest priced items are $16) and consignment merchandise at $150. Thus, we maintain affordable access to secondhand goods - an increasingly difficult task in Vancouver.
3. Our team of volunteers enjoys a wide range of benefits and team-building activities, such as job references, store discounts, meal benefits, staff lounge, annual retreats, and more.
How We Came to Be
Get Thrifty was born in 2017 as a small project by Project Imagine Association, a BC non-profit composed of a collective of UBC student designers with a passion for sustainable solutions. By mid-2018, Get Thrifty was gaining traction and popularity as a monthly pop-up on UBC campus.
Creating Our Store
Thanks to a referendum run in 2019 by a dedicated group of Get Thrifty advocates, the store attained over. $50,000 of annual funding to support the establishment of a physical location.
The referendum, having passed quorum with over 7,000 supporting votes, led to the creation of the Thrift Store Fund. Partnered with UBC AMS (Alma Mater Society), the fund led to the eventual retail expansion of the storefront, which was completed in September 2023.
