Habitat For Humanity ReStore?

Has anyone had any experiences purchasing building materials from a Habitat For Humanity ReStore? Specifically, how do their prices compare to retail?

Thanks!

--Steve

Reply to
Steve
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Hey, Steve! Read up on the below:

Reply to
Twayne

Most newsgroups tend to frown on crossposting, so I didn't do it.

Reply to
Steve

I can only speak for our local (kansas city) store. The prices will be a fraction of retail, but the items are sometimes pretty much junk. Of course the stock changes continously, so you never know what's going to be there. One thing i did buy once is those plastic j-brackets like you hang plumbing with. The ones at the store are about 75 cents a piece. Our local Habitat Restore sells them for $2 a pound. Heck of a deal. I have a five gallon bucket full of them now.

s

Reply to
S. Barker

Reply to
S. Barker

Me experience in San Antonio-- overall I love the place.I try to get by every couple of weeks at least. You have to be careful though. They practically give some things away, and other times ask more for used stuff than it costs new. We actually have 3 stores now. The newest one, which is also closest to my house, does not have a whole lot of inventory yet, but I have gotten some good deals on a few things. They had a huge bunch of pleated a/c filters that would be $5+ at each most places, for $1.49, and they had common sizes, not just oddball leftover sizes. They were brand new, still in the original packages, not damaged in any way. No telling where they got them. The original store, close to downtown, still has the best selection. The other one, farthest from me, has a lot of stuff, but I never found much that intersted me there. Of course , the biggest problem is that if I see something that I think is a real bargain, I usually buy it, thinking I will eventually have a need for it. I'm running out of room to keep all my bargains. Larry

Reply to
lp13-30

Their prices can be very good. Their selection tends to be pretty awful.

Reply to
CJT

I WISH ours had oddball sizes. My furnace is oddball.

They were brand new, still in the original packages, not damaged

Reply to
CJT

I go to one in northern Illinois, and most of the time I'm disappointed. Their prices seem to be 75% of what they would be new. On top of this you can't buy 2 or 3 cabinets, you have to buy the whole set. This place is always croweded because they are not selling. I realize that they have to pay the rent, but most all of their help is volunteers, and selling that high seems to have slowed them down. Lou

Reply to
Lou

Recall the purpose is a fund-raising mechanism -- you may as well consider a portion of the cost of anything purchased there a donation to HFH. Whether that's on your particular radar as a suitable donee is your choice, of course, but there's no sense in the attitude I sense in most responses here of thinking their purpose is to be a bargain house--it isn't.

--

Reply to
dpb

DPB, I have actually bought a few things over the years that for one reason or another I ended up not using/needing, and went and donated them back. And on some other items-- machinery type things with mechanical or electrical parts that may or may not work-- I figure if they do not work, I'll just toss them and consider the money went to a good cause.

Reply to
lp13-30

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