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Winnipeg, Man.
Ten Thousand Villages Canada sales up


Retail sales at Ten Thousand Villages Canada slipped after September 11 but made a significant recovery in the months following.

Sales of overseas items for the first 10 months of the 2001–2002 fiscal year (March–December) were 5% ahead of the previous year. Gross sales for the 30 Canadian stores totalled $5.1 million compared to $4.9 million in the 2000–01 fiscal year.

“We did see a drop of about 25% during the month of September, but the last three months of the year more than made up for it,” said Doug Dirks, director of Ten Thousand Villages in Canada.

Sales through the months of November and December were a record $2 million – 6% ahead of last year.

“People were paying more attention to the media,” said Dirks. “More of them became aware of the situation in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. We were able to help because we are already in those parts of the world.”

Some of the best-selling items this past year included palm leaf star garlands from Bangladesh, palm leaf streamers from southern India and fairly traded coffee from Colombia. Other popular articles included marble and onyx items and tribal rugs from Pakistan.

Higher sales volumes allow Ten Thousand Villages to support an increasing number of overseas artisans, said Dirks. Ten Thousand Villages is looking to double its sales over the next five years, open between two and three new stores per year and increase traffic in existing stores.

Dirks said he was able to see the fruits of Ten Thousand Villages’ labour during a three-year stay in Bangladesh in the early 1980s. It was there that he met a single mother who was able to escape a life of begging by selling paper products through Ten Thousand Villages (then called SELFHELP Craft Stores). This provided her with enough money to build a home and provide for her children.

“Those are the stories that make it all worthwhile,” he said. “Those are the stories that push us to do more.”

Ten Thousand Villages is a program of Mennonite Central Committee.

 – MCC Canada release

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Last modified June 14, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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