Operations Leader Annie Lum at the St. Joseph’s Health Centre Gift Shop.

Whether rushing to make an appointment, navigating an unfamiliar building, or receiving a new diagnosis, hospitals can be a stressful place. Yet, time slows down when you enter the gift shop at St. Joseph’s Health Centre.

A Health Care Attendant at St. Joseph’s browses a collection of eyeglasses. 

This 1500 square foot shop has been open for 40 years, operatinging at the frontlines of joy and grief. For staff, it’s a respite from a stressful day; for patients and their loved ones, it provides a change of scenery and a pick-me-up, from cute onesies for a newborn or soft slippers for a patient’s feet.

“The gift shop is full of treasures,” says Katrinka McJannett, a transition planner at the hospital who visits weekly to scope out what is new and unique. “A hospital without a gift shop has no soul.”

Annie Lum logs into the cash register as she opens the gift shop for the day.

The heart of the operation is Annie Lum, who started at St. Joseph’s nine years ago. As Operations Leader of the gift shop since 2022, her role goes beyond selling items. She’s a friendly face who offers directions to visitors and the chance to talk to someone who isn’t wearing scrubs. “I’m helping somebody who might be feeling sad because they just got bad news or good news because someone just had a baby,” Lum says. “It’s just so nice to support that part of the public.” 

Lum brings decades of retail experience, from frontline to management and production, starting at an early age. Her parents owned multiple businesses in Sudbury, Ontario – a souvenir shop, convenience store and a fast food restaurant – where she learned to make change and interact with customers at five years old.   With a background in Industrial Design, Material Art, and Fashion Design, she worked in high-end stores and local boutiques before returning to her small business roots and studying administration. She began volunteering at St. Joe’s in the  gift shop and then, within a year, became secretary of the volunteer program and later worked as an entrance screener during the pandemic. When the Gift Shop lead position opened, Lum saw a perfect fit.

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The shop sells a variety of self-care items such as sleep masks, hair brushes and spa headband sets.

One of Lum’s goals early on was to reduce clutter and widen aisles. “We see patients with their IV poles and families pushing someone in a stretcher chair,” she says. The store offers a little bit of everything, from patient essentials like hair brushes to what she calls “retail therapy” – unicorn pens, adult coloring books and kaleidoscopes. “Things to get your mind off whatever might be happening outside of this room,” she says.

Frequently purchased items include cotton underwear, diabetic socks, greeting cards and rosaries in the religious section. A local treat for sale, B&B Honey, is part of a 100-year-old business run by the family of Father Boris Hemon, a spiritual care practitioner at St. Joseph’s.

From left to right: Newborn girl balloon, plush toys, locally made honey

  • Top selling item: cotton underwear
  • Best-selling chocolate bar: Kit Kat (700 sold last year)
  • Longest selling item (since the 90s): the “I was Born at St. Joe’s” teddy bears. Multiple generations have purchased these to commemorate the birth of their newest family members (48 sold last year)
An Administrative Assistant at the Health Centre stops by the in-house gift shop during her busy shift.

Lum is on a first name basis with a range of healthcare professionals working at St. Joseph’s including surgeons, dieticians, clinical engineering, cleaners, and psychiatrists. “It’s fun when you walk down the hallways here, it feels like being back at school,” she says. The snack aisle is a staff favorite. 

“I have staff that come in and breathe a sigh of relief, saying, ‘This is my favorite space. It’s so peaceful here,’” she says. “I play the radio, and sometimes they even dance. It’s a nice respite.”

Greeting cards for every occasion are a popular item at the shop.

Located on the first floor of the Morrow Wing, the gift shop is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Lum runs the shop solo, supported by six year-round volunteers ranging from students to retirees. Across Unity Health, the gift shop at St. Michael’s is headed by an Operations Leader and 20 volunteers, while a smaller tuck shop for long-term care residents is operated by 12 volunteers at Providence.

In a community hospital, Lum sees people from all walks of life. “I consider that in my buys and my pricing, because we have customers here who don’t have bank accounts.”

Unique gifts are available at the shop like candles, adult colouring books, and jewellery.

Lum recalls a young woman who visited the gift shop after being admitted to the Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health unit. She noticed the patient’s father calmly following her throughout the store as she collected dozens of items to purchase. Lum processed the sale with a smile, and continued to see them over the next few days. On the young patient’s final day in hospital, Lum noticed a visible improvement. “There was life behind her eyes,” she says. The father, apologetically, asked if they could return some of the items, and Lum agreed without hesitation. Later, the father returned to thank Lum personally for treating his daughter with such kindness during a difficult time and for helping her feel normal. He also shared their plans to go on a road trip. “He seemed so much happier because she was doing better,” Lum says.       

Lum is always dreaming up new ideas to expand her offerings. A new website is on her checklist with the plan to offer online same-day patient room deliveries. 

Operations Leader Annie Lum is known to be a kind and listening ear to staff and patients who stop by the shop.

“She pours her heart and soul into the work that she does,” says Dayalan Thevathasan, Manager of Hospitality Services at St. Joseph’s.

“I would say helping someone during a stressful time is the most rewarding part of my job,” says Lum. “Raising funds for the hospital while I do that is just the cherry on top.”

Story and photos by Katie Cooper

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