Habitat ReStore store in Moreau is a big hit

By Mark Frost, Chronicle Editor

ReStore — the Habitat for Humanity home store on U.S. Route 9 north of Northway Exit 17 in Moreau — opened on Oct. 2 and hit the ground running.

“We’re only open three days a week,” store manager Charles Burd tells The Chronicle. “From the first of October, we’ve done around 4,500 transactions.”

He won’t specify a dollar about, but emphasizes, “We are extremely grateful to the community.”

The merchandise — from “china sets and vases” to furniture and appliances — is donated by local people.

Profits from the store — which is under the umbrella of Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties — help fund the not-for–profit’s core mission of building homes for people in need of them.

“We will build a house in Diamond Point in the spring” on a donated lot, says Mr. Burd, also crediting “donor partners” and “building partners.”

He says, “With any luck we’ll be able to do a second house this year.”

“We have everything you need to build out and decorate a house,” says Mr. Burd.

“Some people don’t know it’s open to the public, [assuming] that it’s just for builders or just for our home owners or people in difficult financial circumstances.”

He said they have merchandise at “every category, every price point,” and that a shopper might fight a leather sectional or sofa priced at $500 next to an upholstered piece for $50.

Mr. Burd says they’ve had some “pretty high-end amazing pieces that are coming out of the community that have really helped drive sales here.” He mentions one from a company named Theodore Alexander that he says “retails at $2,500. We priced it at $600.”

People come in with items to donate, and “we run a truck out into the community picking up cabinet sets, appliances, larger pieces of furniture,” Mr. Burd says.

He says the store, besides raising money for Habitat, “keeps things from going into the landfill.”

Mr. Burd says they generally try to price items at “50 to 70 percent off retail,” while aiming to maximize the return to Habitat.

He says there’s no haggling as to price. “It is Habitat policy that we adhere to very strongly.”

Merchandise that doesn’t sell is “progressively…marked down in increments” as the weeks go by.

Mr. Burd says that when the store began, the Habitat board told him, “You’ll outgrow it in a little over two years,” then subsequently said, “You outgrew it in a month.”

He says, “We are actively seeking free warehouse space. We are past capacity.”

On Mr. Burd’s wish list is an added building to the back separated from the existing one by a breezeway so “people can pull up and drop off under cover.”

The back annex, he said, would be for “hard lines — building materials, appliances, cabinetry. Up front would be “furniture, home accessories and home fashions.”

Mr. Burd estimates the annex he envisions could be accomplished for $75,000, again citing his hope for “donate partners” and “financial lending partners.”

The Moreau ReStore is open Thursday through Saturday, 10 to 7, and by appointment. Info: 518-793-7484. Webs site: glensfallshabitat.org/ReStore.

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