Habitat for Humanity Chatham-Kent's new ReStore is open for business.
The store held its grand opening on Thursday at its new location at 55 Junction Avenue in Chatham.
After having organized several home builds for local community members, this is the first home Habitat for Humanity CK has built for itself.
Habitat for Humanity CK's Director of Stakeholder and Partner Relations Anne Taylor said the new building had been in the works for well over five years, adding that the anticipation peaked in the last couple of weeks after they shut down their old storefront on Riverview Drive.
"While we've been getting this store ready, we've had lots of people drive by and poke their head in and try to get a sneak peek because we were closed at the other location," said Taylor. "They've been kind of going through a little bit of a withdrawal -- but we're happy to have these doors open and to have them in here."
Now that the new build project is complete, Habitat for Humanity CK is also able to turn more of its attention to a new project as well.
Taylor told CK News Today they are looking to break ground on a new home in Thamesville in late 2025 or early 2026.
If you head to the new building, you may notice that it's smaller than the last one -- the store on Junction Avenue is 12,250 square feet compared to the 19,200 sq. ft. at the old store on Riverview Dr.
Store Manager Steve Postma said that's not a problem, though because the new space is much more efficient.
"The last one was just a hodge-podge... you didn't know which breaker turned things off... it was a factory converted over to a store, so this one is built to purpose," said Postma. "We lost back-end space by the numbers, but we gained more usable space because it's all flat and all accessible... there are no loading docks involved, it's all flat and level."
While the doors are open for shoppers during their regular business hours, they are not quite ready to start accepting drop-off donations just yet.
Postma said they will be all set to receive those again on Saturday, October 12 and then next week, they will be back to collecting donations in the community with a kitchen removal booked for next week Friday.
