Sunshine Recycle Store seeks local buyer before September closure
Castlegar’s pay-what-you-can shop has provided affordable goods, emergency assistance and a place of connection for nearly eight years
Sunshine Recycle Store volunteers and sistrs Hope, Lois and Angel join owners Darleen MacMain and Faith Sonntag, who are sisters, while sorting donated goods at the Castlegar store.
Photo submitted.
CASTLEGAR — The owners of Sunshine Recycle Store are hoping someone local will step forward to keep the pay-what-you-can shop in Castlegar before it closes at the end of September.
Darleen MacMain and her sister, Faith Sonntag, opened the store on Nov. 20, 2018. Now, with both ready to retire, they are looking for a buyer willing to continue the business.
A potential purchaser from outside the area has expressed interest, but MacMain said those discussions have been suspended while the owners see whether an individual or organization closer to home wants to take it over.
“We would really like to see the business continue serving the community,” she told the Boundary Sentinel.
The sisters have given potential local purchasers until Sept. 8 to come forward.
Sunshine grew out of the sisters’ experience volunteering at another local store that had closed. When that operation disappeared, MacMain and Sonntag saw a gap in the community and decided to build a new store around many of the same principles: keeping usable goods out of the landfill while making everyday necessities available to people who could not always afford conventional thrift-store prices.
“We wanted to support the local community by providing affordable or free clothing, household items, and other essentials, while reducing the amount of reusable goods sent to landfill,” MacMain said.
“We hoped to make a difference one person at a time — one item at a time.”
Owners Darleen MacMain, left, and Faith Sonntag outside Sunshine Recycle Store in Castlegar. The sisters opened the pay-what-you-can shop on Nov. 20, 2018.
Photo submitted.
The store’s pay-what-you-can model was deliberately built around the idea that people should be able to get necessities regardless of income.
“The payment model stems from our desire to provide essentials based on affordability without a loss of dignity,” MacMain said. “Conventional thrift-store pricing can be unaffordable to some.”
The model has been sustained through donated goods, community support and volunteer labour.
Customers have included low-income residents, seniors, people who are unhoused and small businesses that reuse or upcycle donated materials.
But Sunshine has also filled a less visible role as an informal source of emergency help.
MacMain said the store has worked with social-service organizations throughout the West Kootenays, assembling bags of clothing and supplies for seniors and people with disabilities and opening after hours for people affected by fires or violence.
Sometimes the need was more immediate.
They also helped, she said, “anyone that walked in with holes in their shoes.”
If Sunshine disappears from Castlegar, MacMain believes the effects will be felt most by people with the fewest alternatives.
“Hardest hit would probably be the unhoused and people living in vans, cars, motorhomes and tents, followed closely by low-income individuals, seniors and families,” she said.
“The community will also lose the safety net for emergency aid — fire victims, abuse survivors — and a resource for sustainable reuse and upcycle.”
Volunteers made the model possible
MacMain said volunteers have been central to keeping Sunshine operating without substantially increasing prices.
For nearly eight years, volunteers from the community and the owners’ families have sorted donations, cleaned and organized goods, moved inventory and worked with customers.
“The importance of the volunteers can’t be overstated,” she said.
“They were the reason we were able to operate without either substantially higher prices or much higher operating costs.”
Their contribution also extended beyond the physical work of running the store.
“Many customers came not only for affordable goods, but for a smile, a chat and the acknowledgement that they matter,” MacMain said. “Our volunteers made that possible.”
MacMain said the decision to leave the business is primarily about retirement.
“We are leaving the business for a variety of reasons but mostly due to both principals needing to retire,” she said.
A purchaser would acquire the registered business, inventory and store fixtures. MacMain said the sale price would be negotiated.
A new owner would need a business licence and arrangements for waste and recycling disposal, with other requirements depending on where and how the store is operated.
The current property may also be available for discussion.
MacMain said the potential out-of-area buyer has not made a firm offer and does not intend to operate the business from its current location. Discussions with that buyer have been suspended while the sisters seek local interest.
No local non-profit, cooperative, service club or other community organization had approached the owners as of MacMain’s response to the Sentinel.
She said that type of organization could be well suited to taking it over.
“We think that would be a good fit because the infrastructure, goodwill, and community supply chain are already fully built,” she said.
Sunshine Recycle Store in Castlegar is scheduled to close at the end of September unless a local buyer steps forward. Owners Darleen MacMain and Faith Sonntag are hoping the pay-what-you-can store can remain in the community. Photo submitted.
Photo submitted.
Reuse plays a role in waste diversion
Sunshine does not use an inventory-management system, so MacMain said she cannot provide an exact figure for the amount of material that passes through the store.
She estimates that the equivalent of a full store’s worth of donated goods is handled each week and believes Sunshine has kept large amounts of reusable material out of the landfill each year.
Regional waste data shows textiles remain part of the material reaching the local landfill.
A 2023 Regional District of Central Kootenay waste-composition study found textiles made up 7.7 per cent of single-family garbage sampled at the Ootischenia Landfill. The study, conducted in August 2023, included curbside samples from Castlegar, Nelson and Salmo.
In an April 2026 presentation on resource recovery, the RDCK listed thrift stores among community-led activities in the regional system, alongside repair cafés, Trash-to-Treasure events and bottle depots.
For MacMain, however, Sunshine’s value has never been measured only by the amount of material diverted from disposal.
The store also became a place where people could come in, talk to someone and be treated with care regardless of what they could afford to spend.
“A greeting, smile and knowing that someone sees you and cares can make a difference,” she said.
Anyone interested in purchasing Sunshine Recycle Store locally is being asked to contact MacMain by midnight Sept. 8.
She can be reached at 250-608-7272 or darleenmacmain@hotmail.com.
The Castlegar store is scheduled to close at the end of September.
The B.C. government says a new plan for managing forests across the Kootenay Lake region will include clear, measurable outcomes for old forests, biodiversity, wildlife habitat and watersheds, while acknowledging that some parts of the landscape rely on younger forests aging into old-forest conditions to meet existing targets.