Bargain-hunting deer aims to save a buck, or some doe

You may have heard of a bull in a china shop, but have you heard the one about the deer in the thrift shop?

That was the story John Francis, general manager of the Mission Thrift Store at 15222 Stony Plain Road, heard when he got a call from a volunteer working at the location Wednesday morning.

A lone deer wandered through donation doors at the back of the store and onto the store’s floor. It then stared at the cashier, got spooked and went crashing through a large storefront window pane onto the sidewalk.

“I was like, you gotta be s---ing me,” said Francis. “The whole front of the store is floor-to-ceiling glass panes and yeah, it just went straight out. It didn’t hurt itself at all, there were no wounds or anything and it got up and trotted across the street.”

Francis said smaller animals around the store like rabbits and geese are normal occurrences, but he can’t recall ever seeing a large animal around the spot that’s almost 10 blocks away from the nearest forested area.

Francis said beat officers happened to be walking by the store as the deer crashed through the glass and were able to check on everyone inside. A deer was spotted later in the day by an antique store in the area.

“It definitely caught us off guard,” said Francis. “Never seen anything like that, no animals that big.”

In security camera footage, the deer can be seen jumping through a shelving unit shattering a number of plates and glasses. Francis said that damage was the extent of lost merchandise.

“I was called by one of the volunteers. They said ‘OK John, don’t be upset, we lost another window’ and instantly I was furious,” said Francis. “Then they kind of enlightened me to it that it was a wild animal. We got here and had a big laugh.”

The deer encounter comes just a month after the store was broken into and vandalized. Francis said a man was caught on tape breaking another front window before pushing over racks of merchandise.

Francis said it will cost the volunteer-driven store close to $1,800 to replace the glass panes.

A lone deer wandered through donation doors at the back of the Mission Thrift Store at 15222 Stony Plain Road on Wednesday and onto the store’s sales floor.