‘Fair trade matters more than ever’: Cobourg’s Ten Thousand Villages
By reporter Natalie Hamilton
Stepping inside Ten Thousand Villages Cobourg is akin to a virtual trip around the world with its global offerings of stoneware, kitchen linens, stationary, jewelry, and even coffee straight from the maker to the market.
It looks like a regular downtown store, but Ten Thousand Villages Cobourg is a non-profit organization and fair-trade outpost striving to be a one-stop marketplace for ethical and sustainable shopping.
Located at 16 King St. W., it is one of a handful of fair-trade stores in Canada, selling only food and craft items that make it through a fair-trade certification process. In its 17th year, the store has survived “massive” changes in the industry, economic downturns, the COVID-19 pandemic, and more, noted Bob LeDrew, one of two assistant managers for Ten Thousand Villages Cobourg.
LeDrew said Ten Thousand Villages Cobourg has beat all of those odds and continues to occupy a significant part of Northumberland County’s retail mix and serves as “a destination for customers from across Ontario who turn off the 401 to get their fix of art glass, coffee, chocolate or woodcraft.”
With October recognized as Fair Trade Month, LeDrew spoke with the Independent about why fair trade is important – and “matters more than ever.”
“One of the impacts of the ‘Elbows Up’ movement (is how it) has made people much more aware that they have choices and some power when it comes to the purchases that they make,” LeDrew shared, as his own opinion around fair trade.
“The purchases that they make send a message about what they support.”
For instance, when people choose Canadian produce and leave American blueberries on the shelf, it makes a statement.
“By the same token, when people choose fair-trade goods, they’re doing it in some proportion to support the idea that people who make crafts or grow crops should be paid fairly and promptly for what they do,” said LeDrew. “Given the way of the world these days, folks in the global south are even more subject to the whiplash effects of the market sometimes, and so when people choose to buy those goods, it really helps them weather the storm.”
Fairtrade Canada describes Fair Trade Month as an opportunity to recognize the farmers, workers, and communities behind the products Canadians enjoy every day. It ultimately promotes the importance of fair trade.
Ten Thousand Villages Cobourg is one of seven legacy stores that remains after the closure of Ten Thousand Villages Canada in 2020.
As the last Ten Thousand Villages store in Eastern Canada, “we are continuing the mission of fair trade and keeping the work of Villages Canada alive in our corner of the country,” noted the Cobourg store’s website.
“For our store, I always kind of call us a platypus in the business environment of Northumberland County because we are a not-for-profit organization, but we have a storefront and a webstore.”
It’s also unique because Ten Thousand Villages Cobourg’s offerings are brand new not like many not-for-profit retail endeavours, such as thrift stores.
“I think we’re a unique part of the retail mix here.”
This year is a special year, said LeDrew, as 2026 marks the anniversary of the 80th anniversary of the fair-trade movement. In 1946, a Mennonite woman visited Puerto Rico and felt that women crafters needed a better way of selling their lacework. Edna Byler took a trunk load of items home to Ohio and sold them from the back of her station wagon through the Midwest.
“That simple act marked the beginning of the fair-trade movement,” he said. “Now, two million people in 70 countries work in fair trade, and fair-trade food and craft products make up a $10-billion industry worldwide.”
Ten Thousand Villages Cobourg’s mission is to create opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn income by bringing their products and stories to market through long-term, fair-trading relationships. Its enhanced mission as an independent store is to maintain the tradition and vision of Ten Thousand Villages Canada.
That work encompasses embracing the fair-trade practices that empower artisans, their families, and their communities in developing countries. It also involves environmental sustainability that supports the earth – “through consciousness-raising that connects local and global communities – and through initiatives that encourage youth of Northumberland in their commitment to social justice.”
LeDrew will be at schools and with community groups this fall, providing education about fair trade.
For more information about Ten Thousand Villages Cobourg and to check out the online store, visit the website at https://villagescobourg.ca/.
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