The thrift and consignment store, offering affordable home furnishings while supporting charitable housing projects, reopened this week
Habitat for Humanity Bermuda has officially reopened its home furnishing and décor store at a new location on King Street. The store, previously located on Front Street in the building that once housed Blucks, had to relocate due to the deteriorating condition of the site.
“We were very sad to leave our Front Street location, but the building was literally falling down around us, and it just was no longer safe for us and for our customers,” said Sheelagh Cooper, Chairwoman of Habitat for Humanity Bermuda. “Since then, we’ve been looking for a spot. Then one of our donors decided to buy us this building and donate it to Habitat, so that’s very exciting. It’s a beautiful building. We are putting it into a trust so that it will be used for this purpose in perpetuity.”
The new store is situated next to the Hamilton Fire Station, within the Southeast Hamilton Empowerment Zone, which provides savings on land tax from the government. These benefits, along with the absence of overhead costs, allow Habitat for Humanity to direct more funds towards their charitable cause.
“We have a great business model,” Ms Cooper explained. “We are all volunteers. Everything is donated.”
The ReStore serves as a significant source of revenue for Habitat for Humanity, though the charity still relies on donations from the corporate sector.
Purchases made in its retail store will help fund much-needed building and housing projects island-wide.
“We’re in the middle of four projects at the moment,” said Ms Cooper. “One of them is a four-apartment complex in Devonshire to house mothers and children. The property was donated, and we are fixing it up to create the four apartments. We’ve got two house projects on the go at the moment. We’ve already completed three or four this year since January. So, we’ve got plenty and quite a waiting list.”
In an effort to expand its inventory, Habitat for Humanity has also introduced consignment sales at the new location. “One thing we are going to do with this location, at least for the time being, is take consignment items, and so that will encourage people to bring really nice items here,” Ms Cooper shared.
The new store offers a wide variety of affordable home furnishings. For example, shoppers can purchase a couch for $200 or chairs for just $75 each. Habitat for Humanity is also considering allowing local artists to display and sell their work in the store. “We’re planning to offer the opportunity to various artisans, if they would like to set up their own work in here like a gallery. We would sell the items for them and then take a percentage, of course. But it might liven things up, and there will be new things all the time. We have four rooms just like this that we will be using for that purpose.”
The store, which opened yesterday, is now eagerly welcoming customers. “Come on in, we have lots of things. It’s beautiful, it’s spacious, it’s fun. And do some thinking about what you might have around the house that you’d like to sell through Habitat,” Ms Cooper said.
If you are interested in donating an item, consigning goods, or volunteering your time for a good cause, get in touch with the charity via habitat.bermuda@gmail.com.
