About The Street Store.
The Vancouver Street Store is a free outdoor pop-up store, facilitated by Employ to Empower, that takes place annually in December for residents in the Downtown Eastside. The goal of this event is to provide a dignified holiday shopping experience where residents are uplifted and offered a hand up rather than a hand out. Since 2014, the Street Store has made an impact in the community by working with 921 volunteers, sharing 52,773 donations and spreading holiday cheer to more than 5,851 residents.
Street Store 2023 Information:
On December 16th, 2023, we will host our 10th annual Street Store at Oppenheimer Park.
To date, we’ve welcomed over 10,000 guests, empowered 1000+ volunteers, served 5000+ hot meals, provided 500+ haircuts and collected 20,000+ items. For the first time in Street Store history, we ran out of clothing 1.5 hours into the event which emphasized the importance of showing up for our community during the holiday season.
Our Supporters.
Donations:
Stay tuned for our drop-off dates. More details coming in Summer 2023.
What we only accept:
- Men’s winter jackets + pants
- Medium-sized to large-sized backpacks
- Warm blankets
- Men’s + Womens New Underwear
- New Towels
- Sleeping bags
- New Socks
- Unopened Toiletries
- Winter accessories (gloves, scarves, hats)
- Winter boots (especially larger sizes)
What we’re NOT accepting
- Summer clothing
- Kids clothing
- Hotel size shampoos / toiletries
- High heels* + Open-toed shoes
We ask the community to be thoughtful about their donations as we want to ensure that your donation will go to people who need it. If items like summer clothing / kids clothing are donated, they are often leftover and get donated to a thrift store. For maximum impact, please only donate high priority items to better serve the community and save our staff time in sorting.
Have Questions?
Contact us about any questions you may have for the Street Store! We're always available to provide you with support.
Contact Us