Home materials store helps Habitat's mission

Douglas R. Raymond manages Habitat for Humanity's new ReStore outlet in Carver, where donated goods, such as new Pella windows, sell for a fraction of the retail price. (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff)

Habitat for Humanity, the charity that builds homes for families of limited means, has a new approach to providing affordable housing. It has opened the state's first ReStore outlet, thanks in part to donations from big retailers such as Home Depot, Lowes, and Quincy-based Granite City Electric Co.

ReStores are Habitat retail outlets where quality used and surplus building materials are sold at a fraction of store prices. The money raised goes for building more affordable homes.

The new Massachusetts store - located in Carver and run by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Plymouth - will serve the area south of Boston.

Massachusetts is one of the last states to get a ReStore. They operate in 45 states and parts of Canada; there are four in Maine and one each in Rhode Island and Connecticut. To date, Habitat has built nearly a quarter-million homes around the world.

"We get a lot of stuff that was bound for the crusher," said Carver ReStore manager Douglas R. Raymond, former treasurer of the local Habitat agency, who left that job to become full-time manager at the store. "Most of it is brand new."

The idea for a ReStore came about when the local Habitat realized that some of the materials donated to the agency, but not used, could be sold to raise money.

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Plymouth began as a chapter of South Shore Habitat for Humanity in 1995, became its own affiliate in 1997, and built its first home two years later. It has built seven in all, with the eighth to get underway soon in Kingston.

Some very successful ReStores in other states reportedly raise enough money to build an additional 10 or more houses a year.

"It's a winning situation all the way around," said William Slater, affiliate manager of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Plymouth. "We get great donations, customers get savings, and the material is recycled and doesn't end up in a landfill."

Most of what is sold in the Carver store comes from generous store donations. But some comes from homeowners. Case in point: On one recent day at the 1,500-square-foot store were three gigantic custom-made Marvin windows that would normally sell in stores for at least $1,000 each. Here they were $200 apiece.

"We got these from a Concord couple who were building a house and the windows didn't fit their needs, but they couldn't return them, so they donated them to us," Raymond said.

The store, he said, takes "good quality items, new or slightly used." It is not a place to get rid of household junk, furniture, or old paint.

An auto parts store used to occupy the space that is now Carver's ReStore. It is a humble, nondescript building, but well situated, near the new Route 44. The store carries 400 lines of items. On one day this month, virtually every item in the store was new and still in the original packaging. On one shelf were Schlage locksets bearing the $42 tag Lowe's had charged, written over with the $25 ReStore price. Nearby was a giant glass chandelier for $10 and a bin of roofing nails for 15 cents each.

"This is a good place for people on a budget, or a young couple just starting out," Slater said.

As to any guarantee on items bought at ReStore, Raymond joked, "We guarantee the condition you find it in is the condition it will be in when you go out the door," - meaning items are sold as-is.

For die-hard do-it-yourselfers, there is do-it-yourself help in the form of RS Means how-to books, well-regarded tomes on a variety of construction issues, Raymond said.

And if you buy one and bring it back after getting what you need out of it, Raymond will refund your money. That keeps the books in circulation at virtually no cost. (The books were donated by RS Means, based in Kingston).

For now, the store is a one-man operation, Raymond being the one man. He hopes to enlist volunteer help.

ReStore will depend on the kindness of others to keep Habitat's mission alive, even in tough times, he said.

"In tight times, we need as much money as we can to build more homes," he said. "This will help."

For up-to-date information on the Carver ReStore, visit hfhplymouth.org/restore.html, which is soon to have a "just received" page. The store is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information call the store at 508-866-4199.