Trade and barter in Edmonton

Edmonton is a practical trading city. With plenty of houses, garages and basements from Oliver to Millwoods and Sherwood Park, people accumulate real, useful stuff — tools, workout equipment, appliances, hockey gear — and are usually happy to swap rather than store it another year.

The University of Alberta and NAIT keep a constant flow of students needing desks, bookshelves, microwaves and bikes, which makes household items easy to trade in September and April.

Winter dominates half the year, so block heaters, winter tires, shovels and heavy outerwear are perennial wants. Summer flips it to camping gear, lawn equipment and bikes for the river valley trails.