Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore moves, expands in Modesto

Habitat for Humanity helps people put down roots. Now it’s putting down its own. The Stanislaus County branch of the nonprofit organization has relocated its second ReStore location from McHenry Avenue in Modesto to Kearney Avenue.

The new site, across from the Kearney post office, has a lot going for it: a little more space, a yard for dropoffs and a lower rent. Perhaps most important, it’s adjacent to the original ReStore location.

“This really helps us with things like staffing,” said Anita Hellam, executive director of Habitat for Humanity, Stanislaus. The new warehouse, just to the north of the first ReStore, holds larger items such as furniture.

ReStore is part home improvement store, part thrift shop. “We take a lot of items that regular thrift shops don’t take,” Hellam said. That includes paint, and ReStore has an impressive paint and wood stain selection.

Donations for ReStore come from individuals – manager Gary Torrijos has a team that goes into homes under renovation or scheduled for destruction and removes water heaters, cabinets, anything that can be reused – and companies.

“If a store goes with a new line of something, they might donate their old stock to us rather than send it back to the manufacturer,” Hellam said. Almost everything in the store is available for about 50 percent off retail, and that’s just the new stuff. Used items are even lower cost.

Habitat isn’t just the operator of ReStore – it’s also a customer. The nonprofit group, which builds houses for low-income clients who pay into them with sweat equity, gets whatever supplies it can from the donations it’s given.

“It really ties into our mission,” Hellam said. “The store is able to cover its operating cost, and it subsidizes our construction program.”

Torrijos said the move has created a little confusion. Some customers who see the McHenry location empty – the store moved at the beginning of June – wonder if it closed. Word is starting to get out, though.

And now people can one-stop shop for everything from toilets to water spouts shaped like frogs (a recent donation from a household goods store that changed its product line).

“We have people who come in nearly every day to see what we have,” Torrijos said. “It changes all the time.”

So with all of the donations coming in, there must have been some doozies over the years, no?

The State Theatre offered up some Art Deco items when it underwent a remodeling project – that all went fast.

Someone once gave a box full of Nazi paraphernalia, Hellam said. That stuff went to a museum rather than the store’s shelves.

“And we’ve gotten Beanie Baby collections,” she said, laughing. “We might have a million-dollar Beanie Baby, but we wouldn’t know it.”

ReStore is at 630 Kearney Ave., Modesto. Call 209-575-4585, extension 112. Open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Elsewhere around the Business Beat:

Computer Tutor Business and Technical Institute has been awarded a grant to fund career training or paid work experience programs for qualifying Stanislaus County residents 17 to 24 years old. Classes focus on one of three areas: medical clerk, which includes medical billing skills and medical terminology; accounting clerk, which includes basic bookkeeping, accounts payable/receivable and payroll; and administrative assistant, which includes Microsoft Office programs and business practices. For more information, call the admissions office at 209-545-5200 or visit ComputerTutor.com/grant.

This story was originally published June 16, 2016 at 9:15 PM with the headline "Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore moves, expands in Modesto."