By JAMES
BELL
Hays Post
After months of searching for a new location, the Habitat for Humanity of Ellis County ReStore will open Saturday in its new home at 2707 Broadway Ave., Hays
“We are excited to be back up and running. We’ve heard from our customers that they can’t wait to start shopping at the store again,” said Leslie Wyatt, Habitat for Humanity of Ellis County executive director. “One of our volunteers said before the move that every time we move, the store just gets progressively better, and I believe she’s right.”
The store will open with all new inventory, as most items in the previous location were donated to other area nonprofit organizations or sold.
Previous story: Habitat for Humanity of Ellis Co. seeking new building for ReStore
“We have had some awesome returning supporters that have generously donated several items to the store in recent weeks,” Wyatt said. “We’ve got some really nice items in.”
Items for sale are often rehabbed by the organization’s volunteer staff.
“We have several volunteers that have different skill sets at the ReStore,” Wyatt said. “Sometimes we'll have a piece of furniture or other items that comes in that is missing something. We have volunteers that will actually take the items and renew them to almost new for the benefit of the organization.”
Customers will find those rehabbed items along with other typical thrift shop offerings.
“We have pretty much anything every other thrift store would have, with the one exception,” Wyatt said. “I don't know if other thrift stores fix stuff up like we do.”
With the new location, the ReStore will expand hours.
“We used to be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. [Saturday’s], but a lot of garage sales end around 2 p.m.,” Wyatt said. “And so one of our volunteers had the idea to stay open until 3 p.m., that way people that are having a garage sale and they didn't sell everything, and they don't want to put it back in their garage, they can bring it to us.”
The new location also has a new feature outside, which she hopes will be utilized by those in need.
“The Hays Daily News, they donated some newspaper stands to us,” Wyatt said. “I've had them for a while in our storage. And I sanded them and painted them and turned them into the Free Little Library and the Blessing Box outside.”
“That's something we didn't have at the other store, but I always wanted, so I'm pretty excited about that.”
The ReStore is accepting donations. Wyatt said the organization is a good option for those looking to clean out garages, basements and even whole homes when needed.
“We’ve done that before, where we receive almost the whole household of things,” Wyatt said.
The store accepts new and gently used household items. However, no clothing, couches, entertainment centers or mattresses are accepted.
“We pretty much will take everything,” Wyatt said. “We still have a receiving area that used to be like by the big doors at the other ReStore.”
All donations are tax-deductible.
Supplementing the smaller building, storage containers are being used outside to hold merchandise, she said. Retail space takes full advantage of shelving and wall space to hold as much merchandise as the previous location.
While the store supports the Habitat for Humanity mission, “to bring people together to build homes, communities and hope,” Wyatt said a diverse group of residents shop at the location for different reasons.
“We have a lot of people that come in that are crafters. We have people that come in that are treasure hunters,” she said. “But everybody seems to find something here that they want or like or they can't leave without.”
Sales fund the organization’s Brush with Kindness or Critical Home Repair program to repair homes for low-income Ellis County homeowners.
“The funds are also used to purchase homes within Ellis County that will become homes for Habitat partner families,” Wyatt said. “Selected Habitat partner families are given a no-interest affordable loan on a home within Ellis County in exchange for paying a monthly mortgage, donating sweat equity hours and maintaining income within the qualifying income ranges.”
Applications for these programs are accepted year-round.
To obtain an application for a home or home repair, call or text 785-623-4200.
The ReStore will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month.
