Habitat’s new store doing well
Remodeling old homes is a juggling act between what you want and what you can afford. Bill Currier just figured out how to stop juggling. He found his answer in a metal building stuffed with the castoffs from do-it-yourself stores and private home renovations.
“This is my third visit,” Bill says as he studies a used hot tub on display outside Habitat for Humanity of North Idaho’s Recycle Store. “I bought a door last week. I’m looking at an oven. This place is on my regular route now.”
The Habitat Recycle Store on Seltice Way apparently is on many regular routes. It opened in March with hopes it would earn enough to cover its rent and other expenses.
“This store is making far more money than we expected,” says Jim Erlanger, Habitat president. “We’ve already paid back all our start-up costs – $6,000.”
Habitat opened the store with discount building supplies, appliances, furniture and more, hoping it eventually would earn enough to feed the nonprofit organization’s building fund. Habitat builds and finances homes for working poor people. It buys land. Building materials usually are donated or sold to Habitat at low cost. Volunteers supply most of the labor. The new homeowners also contribute hundreds of hours of labor – sweat equity.
North Idaho’s Habitat scrambles to raise enough money to build three homes a year. Jim, an energetic retiree, saw success at Spokane’s Habitat for Humanity’s discount building supply store that opened in 2000. He saw potential in a similar store for Kootenai County, but he estimated its earnings conservatively. Habitat hoped the store would earn $2,500 its first month. It earned $5,300, then $8,400 its second month, and it’s open only two days a week.
Kim Buffin, the store’s manager, expected discount hunters, and they haven’t disappointed her. They buy used chandeliers and countertops, toilets and refrigerators, flooring and sprinkler systems. Kim is pleased with the attention the store generates but even happier with the customers she didn’t expect.
A husband and wife with four children came to the Habitat store hoping to remodel the single-wide trailer in which they live.
“It’s not an option for them to go to regular stores,” Kim says. “They want to do the best they can for their family.”
The parents had added on bedrooms for each child. At Habitat’s store, they bought an affordable dismantled kitchen from an upscale home.
“They brought in pictures of their work. It’s gorgeous,” Kim says.
Another customer lives in a house the size of a bedroom. His one heat source was in his bathroom. At the Recycle Store, he found a fireplace insert with glass on two sides that can provide all the heat his house needs. It cost less than $50.
“Those are real things. That’s what Habitat is all about – helping people live in affordable housing,” Kim says.
Most items for sale come from individuals. One couple dismantled their wood deck and donated the lumber to Habitat. Another brought in boxes of leftover ceramic tile. Buck Walker, a Post Falls woodworker, stops at the Recycle Store twice each week with donations of construction and gardening supplies.
“Before Habitat opened, I just stockpiled them,” he says.
U.S. Bancorp Foundation helped Habitat open the store with a $3,500 donation. It gave another $3,500 to Habitat this month to buy a truck big enough to haul large items people donate. Habitat uses a volunteer’s pickup truck now. Jim hopes the right truck at the right price will surface soon because Habitat has a lot of work ahead.
The organization plans a 12-home subdivision in Post Falls off McGuire Road near Interstate 90. It’s waiting for final approval from Post Falls. The project was in the works before the Recycle Store opened, but the store’s early success could speed up the timeline.
“We’ve seen a steady increase in foot traffic over the four months,” Kim says as Jim examines a metal stand bearing a price tag for a penny. He finally asks Kim what it is.
“We don’t know. That’s why it’s a penny,” she says, chuckling.
No wonder the Recycle Store is a success.