The president and CEO of Women In Need Society (WINS) says increasing demand for support services is driving the charity’s retail expansion in Calgary.
Karen Ramchuk said WINS currently operates seven traditional thrift stores and one additional “bulk” thrift outlet, located at its donation centre on 52nd Street across from the Soccer Centre.
“It’s kind of like a bulk thrift store and everything is sold by quantity,” said Ramchuk. “It’s a dollar or less depending on how many pieces you buy, but it’s not displayed like a regular retail store. It’s bins and you go through the bins.”
WINS opened two new retail locations in the past year — the first two planned under Ramchuk’s leadership. One store opened in July, and the other just over a year ago.
Ramchuk said store sizes vary from 4,500 to 22,000 square feet. The two smallest were in place before she joined the organization.
She added the charity plans to continue growing its retail footprint.
“Right now, most of our locations are through central Calgary from east to west,” she said. “We have nothing in the far south or far north. Our goal is to try to get into more quadrants of the city.”
Ramchuk said all proceeds from WINS retail operations are reinvested into community programs for women and families experiencing poverty or crisis.
“When WINS opens a location, it’s really not just opening a retail location,” she said. “It’s about generating revenue that we can turn into community programs.”
She credited Calgarians’ ongoing support for enabling the charity’s expansion.
“Everything we do is totally done through the generosity of Calgarians,” said Ramchuk. “If Calgarians didn’t donate product to us, if they didn’t donate money to our charity, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.”
According to Ramchuk, WINS helped more than 27,000 Calgarians last year and processed over seven million pounds of donated goods — enough to fill the Scotiabank Saddledome seven times.
“Our small charity is going through that much product and turning that into those community programs for women,” she said. “The more Calgarians that hear about us, the more product they’ll donate, the more locations we can open, and in return, we help more and more community members that really need help and support.”
Ramchuk said the charitable impact behind the thrift stores distinguishes WINS from its competitors.
“We have competitors that are traded on the stock exchange. We have other competitors that do a little bit of social good. But our organization — we do a lot of social good,” she said.
“We help about 20 to 25 per cent of the people living in poverty in our city. And we couldn’t do it unless people donate their product and shop at our stores.”
She said awareness is a key factor in growing support.
“When people really hear and understand what we are, they start to advocate for us,” she said. “They say, ‘Don’t donate anywhere but WINS,’ and, ‘Shop WINS first.’”
Looking ahead, Ramchuk said she sees potential for 12 to 14 locations in Calgary alone.
“There’s no reason why WINS has to stay in Calgary either,” she added. “With time, with growth, or if we got investment into what we were doing, we could be hitting those bedroom communities. We could be hitting other cities and towns across the province. We could potentially grow this model across Canada and be a solution for poverty from one end of the country to the other.”
Part of WINS success is because of Ramchuk’s past retail career including 23 years at Loblaw Companies Limited.
“I worked for a long time in a major retail company and they taught me so very much. I have been able to take the knowledge from that and apply it at WINS and help to build and refine our model. Our financials are posted on our website, we have almost tripled our revenue in the past seven years even without opening new locations, we grew through efficiencies and smart retail practises.
“And now we will begin the true organic growth phase where we are always looking for space and opportunity.
“And if we can find investment (and remember we are a charity) for growth, we could grow much quicker and do even more for people and the environment.”
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