On Saturday, March 21, 2026, I embarked on a 7-hour thrifting adventure. One of my goals is to visit as many thrift stores in Manitoba as I can. This time I focused on the MCC Thrift Shops by using the “Manitoba Thrifter’s Map” as a guide. I wanted to go to as many NEW to me shops within a day trip from my home in southeast Winnipeg. I used ChatGPT to help determine a route. I gave Chat my ideas and time frame and I double-checked it on Google Maps. It looked good to me. So I packed up some drinks and snacks and shopping bags and got ready to hit the road!

I planned to leave the house for the opening of the Niverville MCC Thrift Shop at 246 Main Street in Niverville. The drive was uneventful and there was lots of water near the roads due to the spring melt. There wasn’t much road traffic either. I arrived before opening (around 9:55 am) and I watched a few other people arrive and wait. Some waited in their cars, some waited outside the doors.

I had seen on Reddit that “Niverville has the greatest thrift store on earth” so my expectations were pretty high. When the doors opened I was pleasantly surprised at the shop. It was very bright and full of nice treasures. The ladies at the front counter were speaking another language, I am assuming German. They were very nice and helpful. I found some jewelry including a vintage brooch and two lapel pins. I purchased some beautiful carnival iridescent glass pieces and some little figurines. They had an impressive amount of greeting cards and I picked up a couple. I spent a whopping $15 and I would go back again one day for sure. I spent about a half hour there.

I checked my watch and saw it was 10:30 am so I had to get on the road to my next stop. I headed over to Steinbach MCC Thrift Shop at 409 Main Street. The building is huge, and the entrance was in the back. I arrived just after 11 am and there was a lot of people in there already. I saw a jewelry case near the front desk, and I asked if they had any other jewelry and they said there was more in the room with the clothing. I then realized there were three different rooms and they were all large. It was a clean store and had lots of light. They seemed to have a lot of room that they could have filled up more, especially with furniture. I saw some items like carnival glass that was priced so much higher than I saw at Niverville. A beautiful green carnival glass set was too expensive in my opinion, for a thrift store. The handled spout creamer piece in the photo below was tagged at $28.00. I spent an hour there and I didn’t buy anything, unfortunately. I probably wouldn’t go back there.

I hopped back in my car and it was time for lunch, so I went into Tim Horton’s in Steinbach and used the washroom and ordered a sandwich and tea.

Back on the road, next stop is Grunthal MCC Thrift Shop, 185 Main Street. It was only about 20 minutes away. Parking was convenient and right on the street. It was a small and crowded shop. It wasn’t very well organized or busy. It was hard to see everything because it was stacked up and I was afraid of breaking something. I saw a big live beetle bug in a dish in the front window. The ladies working there were interesting. A younger lady was watching movies and videos and talking a lot and the other older lady was busy in the back room. There wasn’t much jewelry to be found and the jewelry that was there wasn’t of interest to me. I did a once around the shop and found a couple little things. When it was time to pay for my purchases I noticed the older lady had her head down on the table and appeared to be taking a nap. She couldn’t see me because her head was down. I announced that I was ready to pay for my purchases but no one heard me. I waited a few seconds then I had to say it louder and finally the older woman lifted her head and then the younger lady came to ring me up. In the half hour I was there I found only a few little things. I bought a bracelet, a bell, and a bag for a total of $1.50. I probably wouldn’t go back.

The last stop was at the Morris MCC Thrift Shop at 162 Charles Street. It was a nice 30-minute drive and it was impressively large. There was lots to see and it was well laid out and clean. I spent a lot of time looking at jewelry, dishes, and figurines. It was not that busy. I was telling one of the ladies there about my adventure and she said she likes to do Altona and Winkler MCC Thrift stores and recommended I check them out. I spent an hour there and I paid $10.50 for some jewelry and figurines. I also found a vintage Anchor Hocking gravy boat for my personal use. I would go back to this shop.

It took me about 45 minutes to get home. It was a great day starting around 9 am and ended at 4 pm. The time literally flew by and it’s interesting to note I spent a grand total of $27.00.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my thrifting adventure. Have a great day!

Angela Gentile