Andrew Sannie, Anthony Sannie and Kyle Goldstine discovered the thrift/vintage culture in Japan and that has led to the launching of the unique retail shop Surplus Market in Winnipeg at Hudson’s Bay CF Polo Park.
“We discovered the excitement of thrift shopping in Tokyo, Japan three years ago. That trip was one of the motivators to come back home and create an event around the culture of thrifting and vintage shopping,” said Anthony Sannie.
“Thrifting is such a large cultural component in Japan, so we were definitely influenced on that trip. We wanted to share these experiences with our customers. When you come into our store, everything is curated, categorized, and merchandised, like you would see in Japanese vintage stores. “
The trio has been working on the concept of Surplus Market since 2019 and in October opened their first shop in shop inside Hudson’s Bay at the popular Winnipeg shopping centre, featuring vintage and upcycled apparel and offering high-touch services including a café powered by Never Better Coffee – the first independent coffee shop in the mall.
Surplus Market is a vintage and contemporary retail brand selling rare vintage and independent contemporary apparel, accessories, and homegoods – with an eye toward sustainable fashion and technology. After starting as a series of experience-driven events, the Winnipeg-based company launched its first experiential retail boutique, in collaboration with Hudson’s Bay. The curated store carries its own unique array of goods, while featuring select local vendors, many of whom sold at previous events. The first location, at CF Polo Park, also features a café with a pour-over coffee bar, and food and music pop-ups.
Originally, the Surplus Market operated as a periodic event, offering consumers a chance to buy rare and limited second-hand pieces like clothing, housewares, and even vinyl. The events buzzed with appearances from an array of food vendors, freshly squeezed juice and cocktail bars, record shops, visual artists and DJs.
Anthony Sannie said Surplus Market was originally a vintage resale event that was hosted at the downtown Hudson’s Bay location which started in 2019.
“We held a few events at that location and then we were obviously met by COVID, we got locked down, couldn’t do any other events and then shortly after that, a few months after March of 2020, the regional team at Hudson’s Bay contacted us to see if we were interested in collaborating on a physical store in store at the Polo Park location and we already had ideas of turning Surplus Market into a physical store anyways,” he said.
“We brought that idea to their team. They were very keen on it. So we started building out this concept.
“It’s an experiential clothing store that focuses on sustainability because we’re a resale vintage store. So 95 per cent of the things that come in are one of a kind. They’re one-off things that you can’t get any other place. It’s all vintage, it’s all second hand. There’s also an experiential component to the store too. We have lots of pop up events, we connect with the community, we’ll host artists, DJs, local makers. We really try to engage with our community in different creative ways.”
Andrew Sannie, Co-Founder of Surplus Market and Grape Labs, which is an incubator behind the retail concept, said sustainability in retail needs to be prioritized by big box stores, “so we’re thrilled that Hudson’s Bay sees the value in what we are doing here. It shows that they’re thinking about the same things we are.”
“It’s just the beginning. Based on all the data out there, we predict a tectonic shift in retail when it comes to consumption, and a gradual shift toward sustainability, resulting in major growth in the second-hand retail industry,” said Kyle Goldstine, Co-Founder of Surplus Market and Grape Labs.
Anthony Sannie said the vision for the company is to expand into more than one retail space with Hudson’s Bay in Canada and potentially overseas.
“We’re kind of leaving that up for discussion and that possibility open. We’re hoping to expand and obviously stay at our current location at the Hudson’s Bay in Polo Park as well,” he said.
The company has also launched its e-commerce business. Two of the owners are black and one is a member of the LGBT community.
“It’s a diverse group of people leading this project,” said Anthony Sannie.
