Ucluelet’s beloved Cedar House Gallery has been converted into a discount toy store for the holiday season.
Tla-o-qui-aht artist and gallery owner Hjalmer Wenstob spent the past weekend in the shop making space for all the toys and Christmas decorations.
“It’s been a tight few years for everyone and so we thought if we could offer toys and Christmas decorations that are inexpensive then it would be fun for the communities,” said Wenstob.
Since Vancouver Island’s west coast doesn’t really have a toy store, Wenstob’s mom Jessie Masso came up with the idea to bring a pop-up toy store to the communities by purchasing five pallets of toys and holiday goods from the wholesale liquidation retailer Restock Canada.
“The pallets were in my brother Timmy’s living room for a month,” Wenstob laughed. “And since we got everything at a reduced price, we are selling it at a reduced price. All the Christmas stuff is half off and about 80 per cent of the toys are half off. Some things are even cheaper than that.”
Nuu-chah-nulth art and jewellery are still in the back of the store, but the front has been taken over by one-off action figures, board games, stuffed animals and all sorts of Christmas glitter.
“It was also just an excuse to have the family come down and hang out. With the new baby we thought it would be fun to come hang out with the communities down here and the kids,” said Wenstob, adding that his new baby boy’s name is Tsaahtis, which means ‘where the river or creek flows across the beach’ in Nuu-chah-nulth.
The Cedar House Gallery pop-up toy store (1645 Cedar Road across from the Ucluelet Aquarium) is open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Christmas. After that, Wenstob says they plan to donate the remaining toys.