Habitat for Humanity store to move

HAYDEN – Move over, do-it-yourself home remodeling stores. A new super-sized store is about to open with less expensive materials, an eclectic selection and an altruistic goal that’s hard for any for-profit business to match.

Habitat for Humanity of North Idaho will move its year-old used building materials store from a 3,000-square-foot, hard-to-find building on Seltice Way to a 16,000-square-foot, cinderblock building along U.S. Highway 95 by the end of next month, Jim Erlanger, chapter president, said Thursday.

“Everything I’ve seen says the bigger, the better,” he said. “I spent two days at the store in Prescott, Arizona. They were in a building our size for four years and did about the same as we do. They moved to a bigger site and did seven times the business. I think we could do the same.”

Erlanger didn’t propose the move without reason. The store he persuaded his chapter to open last March earned $112,000 in the first year – nearly twice the amount he’d expected. Within days of opening, the store was too small for the donations of materials that arrived. Manager Kim Buffin had to turn away donations of appliances and furniture because she had no room.

Erlanger began eyeing the building on the southeast corner of Wyoming Avenue and U.S. 95 in Hayden last August. It’s next to Ziggy’s Building Materials. The previous tenant, Zig’s Plumbing and Electrical, moved six years ago.

The $842,000 selling price was beyond Habitat, but owner Dave Moore in Spokane offered a lease-buy option. Erlanger did the math and decided the building would work. The store at its current site earned about $6,000 a month until Habitat bought a 1-ton delivery truck. Now it earns about $11,000 a month. Erlanger reasoned that number would shoot up in a bigger building in a better location. Monthly rent and mortgage payments for the larger building will average $7,500. Erlanger convinced his chapter that the store would pay for itself and still earn enough to expand Habitat’s building program.

Habitat for Humanity is a worldwide, nonprofit organization that helps working poor families build and buy their own homes. It buys land but depends on donations of materials and labor to cut costs. Habitat finances the homes based on buyers’ incomes and uses the mortgage money to build more homes.

The North Idaho chapter has built 19 homes in Kootenai County and is starting work on a 12-home subdivision in Post Falls.

Eula Hickam, a Habitat volunteer for 11 years, said she worries about making mortgage payments on the store, something her chapter never has done. Because Habitat is nonprofit, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is co-signing the mortgage loan. Still, Hickam’s excitement prevails over her nervousness.

“We’ll be able to build more homes,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity to help families, help people remodel who can’t afford it otherwise.”

Habitat will need about 40 volunteers to help with the store, Buffin said. The chapter also plans to hire an assistant manager and a driver and buy a second delivery truck.

It will fill the giant store with toilets of all colors, doors and windows of all sizes, fireplace inserts, flooring, tile, pipes, appliances, furniture – anything usable in a home. Most inventory is used. New items that stores give to Habitat usually are slightly damaged, Erlanger said.

Dave Shove, manager of Ziggy’s, said he’s pleased someone’s moving into the neighboring building, even if it is another building materials vendor. Reid Ziegler, one of Ziggy’s owners, said his family and company have a long association with Habitat in Spokane and North Idaho.

“It’ll be a great association having them next door to us, a great bargain center and convenient to our store where shoppers can pick up other supplies,” he said.

Erlanger is certain his chapter is making the right move.

“This is Kootenai County. It’s exploding,” he said. “If you don’t get on the bandwagon, you’ll be left at the station.”