Moncton thrift store to close as food bank expands

Big changes are in store for the Peter McKee Food Centre in Moncton as demands on the food bank grow.

But that means the loss of one area business. La Boutique Encore, a thrift shop operated by House of Nazareth in the centre, will close at the end of June.

In a post on its Facebook page, House of Nazareth said the closure is the result of the growing number of clients at the food bank.

"Unfortunately, the current rental costs make it impossible for us to relocate," said House of Nazareth.

Christine Taylor, the general manager of the centre, said the boutique has been a perfect tenant, and she has "no doubt that somebody will step up and help them out with the space."

Christine Taylor, the general manager of the centre, says the boutique has been a perfect tenant, and she has no doubt it will find a new home. (Maeve McFadden/CBC)

But with the number of clients the food bank is serving increasing rapidly, the decision was made to renovate that space.

"Our storage was built on … 80 families a day that we were going to support," said Taylor.

"Now we're getting up to 200 and some days we're well over that."

Taylor said the centre only has enough room for about two weeks of food with limited cold storage options.

She said by renovating the space where the thrift shop operates the centre will increase cold storage and be able to keep about a month's worth of food in at a time.

Additions planned to service

"We want to give families more food to take home," said Taylor.

"We're going to be able to give maybe a week or two worth of food as opposed to three or four days."

Taylor said the centre is expanding what it's doing with the food service.

The centre wants to start preparing more ready-meals at the site to cut down on potential food waste, she said.

The centre is also partnering with several local post-secondary institutions to offer tailor-made food bank programs to students living in dorms who may not have access to as many storage and kitchen options.

The centre has also received funding from the City of Moncton to prepare meals for youth at risk, including young people living in shelters, on the streets or in economically disadvantaged households.

"We're just going to keep going because we know the community is there for us," Taylor said.