Liz Wood
by Christiane Cote
Like most people entering the SCHA Thrift Store on Cowrie Street in Sechelt, you probably make sure to check the displayed items in the jewellery glass case located in the home goods section. Although the display is not flamboyant (no special lighting or fancy stands) it is very attractive and its content brings a large portion of the store’s revenues every month.
Those who remember fondly the store’s once a month jewellery display sales can take solace in the fact that the permanent display approach is as successful in financial terms, thanks to Liz Woods dedication and the assistance of her helpers, Marg Walters and Franca Teslovineau. “This responsibility is a big commitment,” Liz says. “But it pays off.”
The energy behind this success belongs to a volunteer with a keen eye and sales experience in the trade. Liz Wood who has been in charge of this section since 2008 brings her expertise in sorting the donated items collected by the volunteers during the week. Liz relies on her experience as a jewellery saleswoman at Zales (in Park Royal), an assistant to a diamond/gold wholesale and a jewellery saleswoman for a Vancouver manufacturer. She uses that acquired knowledge to identify the better items, clean them, fix them if necessary and price them for the store’s jewellery case.
“The first thing I did when I took the role of selling jewellery donations was to install a safe in the sorting room for the collection and safekeeping of all the jewelry pieces, watches and other valuable donations received”. This system made the collection of these items more secure and efficient she says.
Liz is very busy with the process of collecting the items deposited by the volunteers in the sorting room’s safe. She collects three times a week and also spends around 30 hours a week sorting, fixing and cleaning the items for their nice display in the jewellery case. When needed she also shares her jewellery expertise with the special sales and fundraising activities held by the SCHA.
She particularly likes recycling beads from broken necklaces and turning them into beautiful earrings. With pride she says, “That broken necklace that would have been worth just a couple of dollars is turned into $30 worth of earrings.”
Currently there is a new display each Tuesday Morning. “It would be wonderful to receive enough jewelry donations to be able to put out new jewelry for sale on a daily basis” says Liz.