Value Village opens retail outlet in Candiac

New Value Vale offers refuse, rags, calls it clothing
ValueVale.com, which allows customers to put third-hand items on online reserve

CANDIAC—Value Village, the popular Pacific Northwest second-hand shopping chain with 200 locations worldwide, opened its first "Value Vale" factory outlet in Candiac last Wednesday morning to offer clothing items whose irregularities and imperfections make them unfit for ordinary thrift shops.

“We are very pleased to open the first of what we hope will become a household name for fourth- and fifth-hand clothing,” said Value Village CEO Ken Alterman, who sported one of the outlet's top-selling oil-stained suit jackets for the Value Vale ribbon cutting. “If you're looking for bargains on the best of what the bottom of the barrel has to offer, look no further than Value Vale."

Value Village, currently the top choice among Canadian consumers seeking used clothing at fair prices, hopes to use the Value Vale outlet to offload the small portion of its retail stock that genuinely horrifies even these consumers.

"Our motto is 'No givebacks'," said Harold Barrens, Value Vale's sales manager. The sales staff is trained to haggle with consumers--with negotiable discounts ranging from 15 to 99 percent--or, failing these techniques, to stuff the clothing into the customer's purse or bag when they are not looking.

Value Vale is already facing scathing criticism from its upscale competitors, including Montreal thrift franchise Second Time Around and the Salvation Army, who have decried its offerings as "low-quality" "ragged" and "poisonous". Barrens, however, stands behind the quality of the store's merchandise.

"Personally, I think age just adds character to clothing," Barrens said. "Take these boxers. What's the history in their folds? If this leopard-print pattern of stains could speak, what stories would it tell?"

Like other Value Village locations, which boast the ability to furnish a room for under $50, Value Vale also offers a wide variety of non-clothing items, including three-legged chairs and deflated soccer balls.

“Take this gizmo,” Barrens said, holding up a conical aluminum object with a rusty metal hook hanging from it. “Ran over it on my way here this morning. Could make a great lawn decoration or a unique Christmas tree ornament, only two dollars!”

Inspecting the rust on the hook's sharply bent end, Barrens paused and affixed a bright orange "Half-Off" sticker to the item. "We'll give this a seasonal discount."

Value Vale's early customers have responded positively to the store's unique convenience features, including a vending machine full of torn neckties and a coin-operated "Play 'Til You Win" game that allows shoppers to pluck unmatchable socks with a lever-operated claw. The latter is especially popular with Value Vale's younger clientele.

"The trick is to grab the socks by the big holes in their toes!" said Jean-Philippe Bardot, 7, who accumulated over a dozen faded white Sportsocks while his mother examined the store's latchless bras.

Local students, who have long appreciated the "hipster" appeal of Value Village's quirkier offerings, have flocked to Value Vale for the opportunity to emphasize their individuality through their garments' crippling flaws.

"It's refreshing to find a place so far outside of the mass-manufactured fashion mainstream," said Rebecca Wiviott, a 22-year-old Greek Theatre major at Concordia who calls shopping at Value Vale "second only to dumpster diving" in terms of offbeat findings. "I'm glad to recycle this clothing with so many of my classmates getting uppity about who's wearing what brand name. When you think about it, does anyone really need a blouse with both of its sleeves intact?"