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Vancouver Dunbar Street on Vancouver's West Side has a wonderful selection of secondhand stores that have been part of that community for many years. Here you can find everything from terrific antiques and collectibles (Germaine's, Curiosities), used books (Carson Books and Lawrence Books), refinishers (Artisan Furniture Refinishing), used vacuums (Dunbar Vacuums), to sports equipment (Cheapskates). This secondhand shopping area is a long one and runs all the way from 16th Ave. all the way up to 41st Ave. You can walk it but it might be better to drive or take the bus. Being very community-oriented, this area allows you to get many of your basic needs met while hunting for some unique and practical secondhand buys. There are many coffee shops and restaurants along the way as well as a drug store, supermarket, video stores, a deli, dry cleaners, several banks, and a liquor store. There is also a small local theatre that plays first run movies and for the adventurous, a flamenco dance studio. And like most places on the West Side, you are still quite close to the UBC Endowment Lands for some great cycling trails and day hikes.
Barry has been a sports enthusiast most of his life and after having accumulated excessive amounts of sports equipment, he decided that there had to be a way to recycle and resell all of it. He had previously been in the real estate business but decided to start his own sporting goods business after he had swapped a house in Gibsons for a storefront business in Vancouver. Times were different back then, people bought secondhand because of necessity and it was not as socially acceptable to purchase used goods as it is today. Barry remembers one woman who came from across town to buy used equipment for her kids and liked that it was out of the way, none of her friends or family knew that she was buying things secondhand. But he also started the business at a time when recycling was becoming more prominent. And this changed everything. After a few years in business he outgrew the first storefront location, but instead of going after a larger building he decided to open up a second store and split up the different kinds of sporting equipment. This led to Cheapskates Too at the corner of Dunbar and 17th, and two years later Cheapskates Fore a few doors down, and finally Cheapskates 19 at Dunbar and 19th.
The stores evolved into departments, each with its own specific type of inventory: Cheapskates 1 -skating, hockey, soccer, baseball and exercise equipment; Cheapskates Too -bicycles and parts; Cheapskates Fore -golf, racquets, and inline skates; and Cheapskates 19 -skis, snowboards, snowshoes, camping equipment, and ski clothes. This allowed Barry and his staff to keep better track on the inventory and to become very knowledgeable in each area. Barry and his wife Natalia run the business pretty much the same way they did when they started -except now they have 11 staff. Everything is sold on consignment, and the prices are discounted over time. He also made a decision in the beginning to only mail out the cheques so as to discourage people from trying to sell stolen merchandise. He currently has thousands of consignees who cover a large geographic area including the Kootenay's, Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland, and even the U.S. And he has a very diverse client base. According to Barry, "no two days are ever the same. The stock is always changing and this keeps it interesting." He is very proud of the business that he and his wife have built together and he loves what he does and he does it well. "We try to focus on what we do and then do the best job we can with what we have." He has also made a strong commitment to the community and has created a unique way of donating to charity. He has a wonderful system in place where people can drop off used sports equipment and then have the proceeds of the sale go to a charity of their choice. He currently has accounts set up for the Boys and Girls Clubs, Amnesty International, KidSport, Heart and Stroke Foundation, Junior League Sunshine Wheels, and the Hearing Impaired Foundation. But he can also arrange to send the money to different charities if you provide him with all the necessary contact information. Cheapskates also has another company that specializes in offering cycling tours in the Kootenays during the summer. For more information on the tours, call Barry or Natalia at (604) 686-6666.
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Artisan Furniture Cheapskates 1 Consignment Sporting Goods Cheapskates Too Consignment Sporting Goods Cheapskates Fore Consignment Sporting Goods Cheapskates 19 Consignment Sporting Goods Curiosities Antiques and Collectibles Dunbar Vacuum Germaine's Antiques and Collectibles Lawrence Books
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Cheapskates
has been a regular fixture in this neighbourhood for close to 15 years.
What started out with one little store has grown into a formidable presence
at the corner of 16th and Dunbar. Now with four stores, all located
within walking distance, you can pretty much find every kind of used
sports equipment. Barry Gilpin, the owner, likes to think of this as
his own sporting goods department store -"but one with sidewalks
instead of escalators taking you to the different departments."
