Aldergrove’s Fibromyalgia Well Spring Foundation Thrift Shop is moving.
On Monday, Jan. 8, foundation business manager Nigel Thom confirmed an agreement has been reached to relocate the shop from it’s current, soon-to-be-demolished home on 272nd Avenue near Fraser Highway, down the road to the Countryside Shopping Centre in the 275oo block of Fraser, where FreshCo and G&F Financial Group are among the tenants.
“We’re looking forward to the move,” Thom told the Langley Advance Times.
“It’s going to be a lot of work, but we’re looking forward to it.”
At 2,700 square feet, with an open plan, the new space will be bigger and better laid-out, Thom said.
“I think about 2,400, 2,300 of it is sales floor,” he estimated.
“Whereas we only have about 1,900 square feet of sales floor [at the current location]. We think it’s going to have a lot more walk-by [drop-ins] because of the location.”
Well Spring’s current home is to be demolished by the Township, which bought the property and issued a notice to vacate in September of last year, Well Spring reported. The municipality also owns the property next to the thrift store building where the former Alder Inn used to stand.
Council has endorsed a plan that would turn the cluster of lots at the corner of 272nd Street and Fraser Highway into a mixed-use zone that would include new, non-market housing.
READ ALSO: Former Alder Inn site could become non-market housing
Thom credited Mayor Eric Woodward with helping them find their new home.
“We sat down with him [Woodward],” Thom recalled.
“We had a long conversation with him. He took pictures. He talked to some of the volunteers, talked to some of their customers and [learned] that there’s no way we can close the store down [because] it effectively closes the charity down. Once he realized that, he just said, okay, I’m going to find you somewhere to go.”
A three-year-lease agreement was signed with Countryside in November, with an option to extend it to five years.
Thom said they are planning to move the store over in stages, beginning Feb. 1, and opening the new site as soon as they have enough inventory.
“We’ve got to start taking this place [the current home] apart in the middle of January,” Thom explained.
“We want to open there [Countryside] as soon as we start putting clothes in, so that we’re working backwards and forwards with the two stores.”
Cheryl Young, founder and executive director, is promising “big sales.”
If the charity needs more time, they are optimistic they can get it.
“I think the mayor will allow us a couple of weeks if we need it,” Thom believes.
“He won’t demolish the building on the first of March [if we are still moving].”
Anyone who would like to help with the move can volunteer by contacting the store through its website at www.fibromyalgiawellspringfoundation.org or phoning the store at 778-278-3697.
READ ALSO: Federal grant helps Fibromyalgia Well Spring Foundation in Aldergrove
Now in its 17th year, the foundation’s online mission statement describes its stated purpose as reducing “the physical suffering and mental anguish of those people who suffer from fibromyalgia while increasing through education, the understanding and knowledge of those who do not have this condition.”
Fibromyalgia is described as a chronic, long-lasting disorder that causes tenderness throughout the body and widespread muscular pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep deprivation, and potential memory and mood issues.
Fibromyalgia Well Spring Foundation Thrift Shop, at its current location of 2978 272nd St. in Aldergrove, is open Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
It also operates the newly opened Gently Used Furniture Retail Warehouse on Fraser Highway at #2 - 26004 Fraser Highway, open 11 a.m. to 3 pm. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays.