Berkshire Habitat ReStore Closing Its Doors
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity announced last week that it will closing the ReStore on Hubbard Avenue at the end of August because it is no longer profitable.
The store took in donated building materials, furniture and lighting and resold them to raise funds for Habitat projects.
"ReStores across the country are seeing a decline in sales and profitability and for our ReStore, when we opened it 15 years ago, it was to be able to help build homes. So it's been having dwindling returns for a while," said Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity CEO Carolyn Valli.
"Last year we only had a 6 percent profitability, and this year it's looking like we may be losing about 20 percent so we can't be in a situation where we're not going to be able to build a home because we're keeping the ReStore open."
The store will be open until Aug. 31 and plans on opening one extra day a week through closure. It is currently open Wednesday through Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The store will no longer be accepting donations and the items inside will be marked down with special deals.
"We're hoping, starting on the 22nd, we're going to be open with limited staff on Tuesdays through Sunday from 9 to 5. So we'll have an extra shopping day a week, but since we're not taking in donations, we're just going to be able to spread our staff over those extra days in order to give people more time to shop," Valli said.
A contributing factor to the closure was a looming five-year commitment when its current lease expires on Aug. 31. The costs to deal with dumping on the property has also not helped.
"The amount of dumping that happens on our property is a contributing factor of why the expenses have gone up so much, and we understand, like, it's really hard to get rid of stuff that nobody wants," Valli said. "Thinking that a nonprofit should absorb that is certainly not helpful."
Store staff were told about open positions within the organization that might be of interest to them and being connected with MassHire.
"All the staff that stays to the end will get a thank-you bonus at the end of it, and we'll be doing letters of recommendation and helping with any job searches that they need, that we might be able to help with," she said.
One of the missions of ReStore was to help keep furniture out of landfills. The organization is currently looking for ways to donate or move the furniture that doesn't get sold.
"We're going to have a focus group from community members on the 21st just trying to get other people's ideas about what is the best way to close things out, if there are items left, how do we make it a benefit to the community, even though we're closing to get the rest of the stuff back into people's hands?” Valli said. "So we're hoping that after the 21st, we'll even have more ideas on what's going to be the best way.
"We already talked to several other agencies about giving them vouchers to give to their clients if they're going into housing. We're going to be talking to the Fire Department to see if anybody has a fire they could give out vouchers to so that if somebody has had a disaster of that nature, we would be able to support them in that way."
Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity first opened the ReStore on Jefferson Place in 2010 and soon outgrew the space. It moved into the 17,500-square-foot store on Hubbard Avenue in 2015. The next closest ReStores are in Albany, N.Y., Manchester, Vt., and Worcester.
Habitat's ReStore helped build 29 affordable homes since opening in 2010. Valli said the closure is looking to be permanent, but the store is well appreciated.
"I really do want to just say how much I appreciated the Restore. There were a handful of us that, you know, did the research, got the ReStore going at the old location, and then expanded to this location. And it really means a lot to us. It's not just about business, you created something, and now this creation is no longer fulfilling the purpose that it was intended to and but you do have to make the tough decision to have that end," she said.
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