Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa seems to have landed on the ideal location for its new ReStore: City Centre in Hintonburg.
ReStore — now with sites in east, central and west Ottawa — sells everything from new and gently used furniture and decor to lighting, plumbing supplies, hardware, appliances and more, all of it donated and with proceeds helping to support Habitat’s affordable housing projects.
The new City Centre store, which is 7,300 square feet and officially opened Dec. 8, is already making a splash, according to store manager Karen Vejprava. “Customers are impressed with the feel of the store and the merchandise. We’re getting lots of walk-in customers who are realizing, ‘Oh, it’s in the neighbourhood!’
“It’s a different demographic than the other stores. Hintonburg is trendy and creative. There’s a very green energy around this area and that’s great for us because we’re diverting things from the landfill.”
The store’s contents are “very curated,” she adds. Staff have mingled furniture with home decor to create vignettes that help customers visualize how items would look in their own homes.
The merchandise at ReStores is donated by businesses and individuals and sold at a fraction of the original prices. The product range depends on the location; for instance, unlike the larger sites on Belfast Road in the east and Iber Road in Stittsville, the City Centre store doesn’t carry windows and doors and some other construction materials, but its bargains are hard to resist when so many of us find our budgets stretched to the breaking point.
The Habitat for Humanity model
Constrained budgets are nothing new to the many homeowners who have benefitted from the Habitat for Humanity model.
Launched more than 50 years ago and brought to Ottawa in 1993, Habitat builds homes for deserving families who would otherwise never be able to afford home ownership.
Often living in untenable rental housing, successful applicants to Habitat do not make a downpayment, and their mortgage payments are geared to 30 per cent of household income, bringing home ownership within reach of many who couldn’t otherwise afford it. They are responsible for paying utilities, taxes and other home ownership costs and volunteer for 500 hours on the build site or with other Habitat projects and community activities.
MORE: A team build Habitat project in Orléans
Community members help build the homes, which are increasingly multi-unit projects to maximize Habitat’s impact. The latest project by Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa is Kemptville Korners, a 15-unit townhome project in North Grenville built in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity Thousand Islands and partially funded by $1.5 million from the federal government.
Owners took possession of their new Kemptville homes at a ceremony in July 2024 during which Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa’s 100th family to be housed received their door keys.
Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa will announce its next project in 2025.
New ReStore site a lucky find
Finding the City Centre location was fortuitous, according to Alan Avis, director of ReStores in Ottawa.
Habitat had briefly operated a third site in Nepean, but the pandemic dampened sales and, hoping for a better location, the ReStore team decided not to renew the lease.
“We weren’t necessarily looking in (the Hintonburg) area when that location came up,” says Avis. “It was interesting because the area has a high density of people for us to draw on, there’s lots of visitor parking and there’s a loading dock. You don’t usually come up with that combination.”
City Centre also benefits from name recognition, thanks in part to the beloved Art Is In Bakery next door to the new ReStore along with other tenants like Orange Art Gallery and Beyond the Pale Brewing Company.
Like Vejprava, Avis notes the compatibility of the new site with the neighbourhood — “the DIY decor ethos and the spirit of the community.”
Ottawa’s ReStores, staffed largely by volunteers and attracting roughly 150,000 customers each year, contribute about $500,000 annually to Habitat’s operations, says Avis. He foresees that growing to about $1 million within the next five or so years.
“ReStores are a place where people work and volunteer because they want to help a good cause. It’s the same with our donors and customers. ReStores are our biggest touch point for the community.”
All three stores are open seven days a week. For hours and locations plus information on donating goods, visit Habitat’s ReStore page.
