A long-standing fair-trade social enterprise in Canada will be shutting its doors this year.

Ten Thousand Villages announced Tuesday it will be shutting down its corporate operations in Canada this year, which includes the closure of its two stores in Winnipeg.

In an update on its website Tuesday, the Mennonite Central Committee — the Winnipeg-based charity that runs most of Canada's Ten Thousand Villages stores — cited a "challenging retail environment" as the reason for the decision to shutter all remaining company stores in Canada.

The closure also includes Ten Thousand Villages Canada's head office and distribution centre in New Hamburg, Ont., as well as its online shop and wholesale operations.

"It is with the heaviest of hearts we announce the closure of the corporate operations of Ten Thousand Villages Canada," the stores said on its website. "Thank you for 74 years."

After embarking on what it called an "unsuccessful multi-year sustainability process," the Mennonite Central Committee said it was forced to announce the closure.

"For the last 10 to 12 years, this has been a very, very challenging business. Not a decision we took lightly. There simply wasn't a way," executive director Rick Cober Bauman said on Tuesday.

With major shifts in the Canadian retail landscape and consumer habits, Cober Bauman explained the existing retail model is no longer viable. "There's simply not enough people coming into our bricks-and-mortar stores," he said, adding the company also fell short in online sales and wholesale contracts.

Ten Thousand Villages had attempted to create a market in Canada for handcrafted products made by artisans in developing countries.

The move affects 10 remaining corporate-owned stores across Canada, including the two currently operating in Winnipeg. Stores in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick are also set to close by the end of May.

Coffee made by international producers is seen for sale at a Ten Thousand Villages store in Winnipeg. The company stores which are closing will be liquidating inventory in the coming months. (Warren Kay/CBC)

However, a number of Ten Thousand Villages locations in Canada which are owned and operated by separate boards — including Manitoba stores in Steinbach and Brandon — will remain open.

Ten Thousand Villages U.S. — which operates separately from the Canadian enterprise — is unaffected by the change, the Mennonite Central Committee said in its news release.

The company stores which are closing will be liquidating inventory in the coming months, with the last store closing by the end of May.

The announcement was sad news for volunteers and employees like Jobina Westman, who started with Ten Thousand Villages as a volunteer five years ago and now fills in as acting manager at the Henderson Highway location in Winnipeg.

The store has been like a second home for her, she said.

"It's been just wonderful learning about marketing around the world, and what kind of a difference we can make with our dollar," Westman said.

Acting manager Jobina Westman, who started with Ten Thousand Villages as a volunteer five years ago, is heartbroken two Winnipeg locations are among the 10 stores closing in Canada. (Warren Kay/CBC)

Many of the store's handmade items come with information about who made the item, what materials they used and how purchasing the item supports global fair trade.

"That is just a beautiful piece to be able to pass on to our customers," said Westman.

She said she's worried about the artisans around the world who relied on sales at the stores, and hopes customers will find other places to buy fair-trade products.

"I really hope that someone else picks up the torch, and keeps running."

The Henderson Highway store where she works will shut its doors on March 31. The Plaza Drive location, in Winnipeg's south end, is scheduled to close May 29.

The store's retail website will also shut down on May 29.

74 years of fair trading

The unique fair-trade stores have been around for as long as many consumers can remember.

"I think it's really sad," Devina Sirota, a Winnipeg customer, said. "If you come here, you can actually see the products. But if you see it online, you can't really get a feel for the love that goes into them."

Ten Thousand Villages is one of the world's largest and oldest fair trade organizations. (Warren Kay/CBC)

The Ten Thousand Villages chain's origins stretch back to 1946, according to the organization's website, when American MCC worker Edna Ruth Byler visited volunteers in Puerto Rico who were teaching sewing classes to help improve the lives of women living in poverty. When she returned to her home in Pennsylvania, she filled her car with their embroidery and started selling pieces at churches, parties and sewing circles.

That work expanded to Canada in 1965, the MCC's Tuesday press release said, with the first Ten Thousand Villages store (then known as Selfhelp Crafts of the World) opening in Altona, Man., in 1972.

The Altona store announced its closure late last year. That followed the closure of nine other Ten Thousand Villages stores across Canada in 2018.

"We recognize this has a huge impact on artisans, staff, volunteers, shoppers, all of whom I'm deeply grateful for the contributions that they've all made," the MCC's Cober Bauman said on Tuesday.

"We want to recognize the losses, but also recognize the enormous impact that the many people — and Ten Thousand Villages as an organization — has had."

Locations scheduled to close: