Even before Niagara’s newest, and largest, Value Village opened officially on Thursday in Welland, shoppers were chomping at the bit to get their hands on a rare find or steal of a deal.

On Tuesday the thrift store held a preview night at its new location at the corner of Woodlawn Road and Niagara Street. It took just 15 minutes for more than 200 shoppers to pile through the door, perusing the selection of electronics, home decor items, clothes and everything in between.

“It’s a true treasure hunt,” said store manager Frank Roperti, noting the Welland location has been in the works for 12 years now. Its opening marks a return to Roperti’s Niagara roots after a quarter century with the company. In those years, he’s seen some rare and unique items go up for sale. At the top of the list is a Toronto key to the city given to the Barenaked Ladies that inexplicably turned up at the Chatham location he worked at previously.

“Somehow it ended up at the Chatham Value Village,” he laughed.

“It’s like walking into the biggest treasure hunt imaginable,” he said, underscoring the draw for many Value Village shoppers.

He said they can expect new finds daily on the floor. Value Village took over the space formerly occupied by Staples six weeks ago, and by the time of opening, with 65 staff, the location had over 100,000 items on the floor and just as much in back stock. Roperti said shoppers can expect 30,000 to 40,000 new items to hit the floor every week, 5,000 to 6,000 every day.

“We try to price everything at a good value,” said Roperti, explaining the Welland location will, like all other Value Villages, follow the mission of improving lives through reuse. That comes in a notable form of charity donations for every item donated and possibly saved from landfill, even if it doesn’t necessarily make the sales floor.

The Welland location will support Diabetes Canada and Roperti expects it to contribute $650,000 to the charity in the first year of operation alone, based on donations at Niagara’s other two locations in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.

At 20,000 square feet, the Welland store is the largest in Niagara, stacking up against 17,000 in St. Catharines and 15,000 in Niagara Falls.

On Tuesday night shoppers poured over every item imaginable, each in search of their own find. For Welland’s David Bags, it was short-sleeved button-up bowling shirts.