Shopping for a host of “things” from everyday life, used and still useful, from the comfort of your living room and collecting everything by pick-up or delivery, this is what the innovative formula of the Noschoses online store offers.
The platform currently has an inventory of 25,000 items divided into around a hundred categories: furniture, decorative items, gardening items, sports items, hardware, tableware, books, household appliances, electronic devices, antiques, tools of all kinds.
“Instead of visiting several physical stores or addresses to collect various items purchased on sites like Kijiji or Marketplace, the variety offered allows you to group together several items in just a few clicks. And collect them from a single address, our warehouse located in the Limoilou district. Delivery is also possible, for a certain amount, depending on the distance.”
Democratizing and modernizing second-hand purchasing is one of the objectives of Sarah Grenier, founder of the social economy and non-profit organization: “Our things have a second life”.
A record player on sale on the Noschoses online store.
Courtesy, Natalie Sicard
Since its creation in 2020, the organization has recovered and refurbished a large quantity of objects, most of which come from donations. Three employees and 25 volunteers then work to sort them, clean them, repair them if necessary, photograph them, then put them online. “There is a lot of work behind the site, which adds nearly 500 new items per week, all of which have been inspected with a fine-tooth comb.”
A table on sale on the Noschoses online store.
Courtesy, Natalie Sicard
The adventure began in the middle of a pandemic with a group of citizens wishing to create a collective project focused on mutual aid. “While all the stores were closed and people were spending their time at home, the idea was to break the isolation and make everyday objects accessible at modest prices,” explained Ms. Grenier. A call for donations then made it possible to gather, in a first small room, books, puzzles, board games, boots, clothes, which the team of volunteers would deliver to homes. Three months later, in fall 2020, the woman who already had 25 years of experience in the social economy decided to found the organization and bring the site online.
Two chairs on sale on the Noschoses online store.
Courtesy, Natalie Sicard
A social, economic and environmental mission
Encouraging people to rethink their consumption needs, with the reuse of items as a formula for reducing one’s ecological footprint, is the organization’s main mission. “By recovering as many used objects as possible, but still useful, to give them a second life, we want to raise awareness among people about reusing already existing resources. The word Noschoses refers to material, as a resource of society,” explains Sarah Grenier. And to make these resources accessible to as many people as possible, “the price of items for sale is relatively low”, which allows some to save money on a host of products and others to get rid of unused items. You can find coffee tables on the site for $10, $12, $25, chests of drawers from $20, chairs of all kinds from $7. On a social level, the organization also offers the opportunity for many volunteers to get involved in their community. Aside from all the logistics around the website, the organization opened a second-hand store a year ago a stone’s throw from the warehouse, to allow clothes to be tried on. There is also a wide range of small and medium-sized furniture and objects.
To know more :
www.noschoses.org
