Habitat ReStore signs Vancouver lease

Habitat ReStore signed a lease this week for a 25,500-square-foot space that will house a recycled building materials retail center in Vancouver.

The store will likely open in March in a former Hi-School Hardware facility at 5000 E. Fourth Plain Blvd. Its four employees will sell discounted overstocked, used, discontinued or salvaged building materials and furnishings donated by local businesses and individuals.

Habitat ReStore is a branch of Habitat for Humanity affiliates in Vancouver, Portland and Hillsboro. Sales from the Vancouver Habitat ReStore, and from the current store in Portland, will benefit all three of those nonprofits, which build homes for low-income families.

At the Portland Habitat ReStore, about 10 percent of sales and donations come from Southwest Washington, Connell said.

"We felt there was opportunity for growth here," said Joe Connell, Habitat ReStore director for the Vancouver-Portland metro area. "The community was asking for it. … It's not so much that we're moving into Vancouver, but expanding what we've been doing here."

Throughout the metro area, more than 500 businesses donate to the store, which raises more than $100,000 annually for construction of Habitat homes.

There are more than 500 Habitat ReStores in the United States, with 15 in Washington. Vancouver's will be the first in Southwest Washington.

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