Niverville’s Thrift Store has decided to close its doors.

“We had a call this morning from Manitoba Health that we had a test positive case from one of our volunteers,” informs General Manager Gerald Leoppky.

According to Leoppky, the staff member was last in the store on October 20th. Prior to the positive test, however, a plan was put in place regarding how to handle them.

“If a volunteer staff member would come back confirmed test positive, then that staff person would have to quarantine,” shares Leoppky, “but the store would also close for the period of the quarantine as well.”

Leoppky says they only learned of the positive test 15 minutes before opening Tuesday morning and had to send somewhere between 25 and 30 customers away. “There was, of course, a lot of disappointment from the customers,” admits Leoppky, “but they were very understanding, so that was great.”

Leoppky says he brought compiled information from the store with him to Open Health Clinic where he shared it with Manitoba Health officials.

“The closure was not a requirement by Manitoba Health,” assures Leoppky. “This is something that we were doing just out of an abundance of caution because we have well over half of the staff here in their 70s and 80s.”

Leoppky says the test positive staff member will complete their quarantine on October 29th and if they have no more positive tests among staff, they should be open again in early November.