The Free Store is almost 20 years old... older than some of the students that come to visit the shop where "everything is free". And you might think that after 20 years, this old dog doesn't have any tricks, but you my friend would be very very wrong.
Let's take a look at some of the big new things you can expect from the Free Store in the Fall of 2026.
New location
You might be asking yourself..."didn't the Free Store just move?"
Well yes it did... and we moved again. But this time into a more permanent space in a more central location. The store is now located in the Montpetit building, room 142. This location is not only more central and higher visibility, but it is also more accessible for those with mobility issues.
Back outdoors again
Another nice little perk is that we can once again have an outdoor presence! This is super important to us for two reasons. First, there is so much more stuff then any one space can handle, so having outdoor space allows us to display more things and give clients more space to move around. Second, being outdoors attracts more people to the space. It gives people a chance to see some of the stuff we have in stock and decide if they want to pop in for a visit.
We are hoping to expand the outdoor space to have more racks and tables than before. And because the outdoor space is covered, we can have an outdoor presence for more of the year, including when it is raining outside.
Book nook
Consistently, one of our most popular spin-offs of the Free Store has been the book carts we have around campus. We fill them with books, binders, office supplies, and sometimes old promotional materials. So we decided to create the same idea as our book carts but focused into one accessible space.
We call it our book nook and it is stocked with books, binders, and office supplies. This space is located right next to the Free Store and is open even when the store isn't. So drop by anytime.
Sorting space
So there are categories of people that come to the Free Store, those who are there to shop, and those who are there to volunteer. For those who are there to shop, clearly there are improvements. But, for those of you who have come to the store to volunteer, we have made a few changes to make your experience better as well. Notably, we have created a separate new sorting space.
This sorting space is designed to help us sort items more efficiently and quickly. This means better quality items are making it to the store. The space is much more open and well light then our other spaces, with more shelving and sorting baskets. This makes quality assurance much easier while ensuring that we can keep volunteers as safe as possible. All in all, a better experience for everyone.
More donations to the community
One of the other reasons why we wanted to have a better sorting space is because we have been receiving more donations than usual. This required a rethink about how we process the donations coming in. To keep up with demand, we decided to change our process. Ultimately, this means that we are able to donate more materials to the community beyond the campus walls.
Every year, the Free Store donates thousands of items to charities that we think might benefit from some of our overstock. In the past, we weren't always able to sort our donations to the specifications of some charities. For example, if an organization only needed women's sweaters, it was hard for us to only get them the exact items that were looking for. But now we are going to be able to better filter materials and direct them to charities.
So that is a run down some of the big new things in store, but we want to get ideas from you about how we can get event better, either in the store or for our volunteers. Drop us a message on social media or come into the store and char with one of our coordinators.
~ jonathan rausseo - campus sustainability manager
