Harrisburg residents were distraught when Tröegs announced that the successful, homegrown brewery was relocating to Hershey—and rightfully so.

Tröegs had become not only a social hub of the capital city but a beacon of hope for Harrisburg—a symbol that a small business can thrive within the city limits. Then, just a few months ago, the former Tröegs brewery and bar became a different symbol of hope for those who call central PA home, one of a comfortable life at an affordable price.

The Habitat for Humanity of Greater Harrisburg’s ReStore is a dream to your average weekend warrior or homeowner. Although Harrisburg’s ReStore only opened in late August, ReStores have been established all over the country for the past 15 years.

“The Habitat affiliate here in Harrisburg started putting together a capital campaign to get their ReStore open about two years ago. They also started accepting donations at their building at 13^th and Walnut,” explained Bill Wood, ReStore manager.

A Habitat affiliate can be compared to a chapter of the national Habitat for Humanity. Each operates individually but under the national umbrella and guidelines. Wood moved from Lexington, Ky., with the sole purpose of opening the Harrisburg ReStore.

After finding the location, recruiting volunteers and having conversations with those who had the potential for corporate involvement, Wood and his team began to build the ReStore from the ground up. Tröeg’s recognizable bar still stands, but it now serves as a display area.

“While working on the building itself, we were securing donations from people to make sure donors are aware that we’re a presence in the community—that we’ll come out and pick up something if you want to donate it and give you a tax receipt,” Wood explained. “That way, when we opened, we already had that donor base going.”

In ReStore’s fourth month of serving Harrisburg, the store had too many donations and a lack of space—a good problem to have. To move some old merchandise out of the store, Wood and his team had a storewide sale.

“That’s a really good feeling to me. It shows that the community is hearing us,” Wood said. “They’re donating things that they no longer want, and we’re turning them into funding for our programs.”

Those programs help fulfill Habitat’s mission of providing housing for lower-income people. The ReStore even serves as an inventory for Habitat’s construction crew.

“If we’re doing a rehabilitation, and the home is in need of a vanity, if we have a vanity here that fits and is in good condition, we’ll use that for the home,” Wood said. “We also get paint and other building supplies donated. One of our construction guys came by to get six tubes of drywall caulk for $1 a tube. He would pay quadruple that in a store. It’s small, but on a larger scale, we’re saving 75 to 90 percent.”

Many customers don’t expect the ReStore to supply items such as caulk, but, walking in to the warehouse, customers will see modern furniture alongside antiques, dishwashers and ovens, maple and cherry cabinets, paper weights, lighting fixtures and even an antique clawfoot tub. ReStore customers range from do-it-yourselfers to people in need of new items for their homes at an affordable price.

“We have one customer whose home was completely destroyed and has been waiting to put in a new kitchen but could never afford it. She’s been coming in week after week and getting these cabinets piece by piece and putting it together herself,” explained Lindsay Kirkwood, ReStore assistant manager. “She came in a few weeks ago with pictures of it all done. We got to see her every week and watch that process come together. It’s really great. I’m glad we can be that resource for people out there.”

Kirkwood worked with Wood at a ReStore during her college years in Lexington.

“I rode around on the truck and, once I graduated with an English degree, I thought I should probably go move some more furniture for a while,” Kirkwood laughed.  “I fell in love with the mission and what we do. It’s one of those jobs where you get to go home exhausted most days knowing that you got a family in a new home or put a new roof on someone’s house and that’s good enough for me.”

Others come in looking for furniture that they can recover or paint to use in their home. Harrisburg Councilwoman Sandra Reid, for one, is a ReStore frequent shopper. Prior to the opening of the Harrisburg location, she traveled to Lancaster or York almost every week to check out their inventory for her ongoing home remodel.

“I work on my own home, and I believe that, if we recycle things and repurpose things, you can get some more use out of them. If you’re into DIY, this is where you need to be,” Reid said. “It benefits the DIY-ers, the residents, the people working on their own homes; having the ability to come and get high-end fixtures and high-end ceramic, paint, stains—it’s wonderful!”

Reid’s favorite find so far was an antique mirror that matched a 100-year-old dresser. She was able to replace the broken mirror with one she found during ReStore’s opening weekend, and, to her delight, many who see the piece believe it to be the dresser’s original.

Other customers are attracted to ReStore because of the price point. Wood and his team set the items’ prices before featuring them on the floor. To ensure accurate pricing, they sometimes will get the opinion of antique dealers who are experts in determining value.

Customer Stephanie Eshenour heard about ReStore and the good prices and decided to stop in for counter sealant.

“We’re doing a home remodel and trying to do it on a budget. We heard they have a lot of good things at good prices,” Eshenour explained. “We found a sink we’re going to buy for $35. Otherwise, it would be over $100 for the same sink. ReStore is really beneficial to everyone; we would buy a tool or sealant and use it one time and never use it again. This way, you can get it at a cheaper price, and I think people will want to improve their homes more if they realize it doesn’t have to cost tens of thousands of dollars.”

ReStore collects a wide range of items, but not everything in the store is used. Some of the merchandise is donated directly from the warehouses, sometimes due to overstock, but other times because there was a logo or packaging change. A seemingly small change such as a switch in packaging material requires all new products on store shelves. The products with the out-of-date packaging are often delivered to ReStore in new condition. 

“Anderson Windows actually called me to pick these up,” Wood said, referring to a long line of brand new windows. “These were all windows that were sent out to job sites and returned because they were the wrong size or the architect changed designs.”

Other merchandise that ReStore had available included chairs donated from Bob Evans; a bank deposit box; full sets of cherry and maple kitchen cabinets; office desks and chairs; paint, stain and sealant; ceramic tile and doors.

Wood estimates that 75 percent of the donations coming into the store are from individuals, with the remaining 25 percent from corporate or construction environments. The items leaving the store reflect this same balance. Most customers walking into ReStore are there for their own homes, while smaller numbers are shopping for a corporate or construction environment.

“We recently opened an account with a fire department. If they’re looking to remodel a fire station and need a new dishwasher, they can come here and purchase it. It saves the municipality a lot of money and helps us out, too,” said Wood.

Although ReStore’s doors have been open for less than six months, Wood and his team are already looking into the future. One way ReStore will continue to positively impact the community is through a new conservation program called The Toyota Together Green project, sponsored by The Audubon Society. Wood is one of 40 fellows across the country chosen to receive training, networking support and funding to conduct a conservation project.

“The Audubon Society and Toyota Together Green will be giving us money to complete volunteer recruitment with groups that are typically left out of the conservation movement. Low-income families, LGBT groups and others that are generally left out of the equation,” Wood explained.

The project will make the conservation movement reflect the diversity of our society. Wood and his team at ReStore hope that, by spreading knowledge of Habitat for Humanity and spreading their passion for conservation, the Harrisburg ReStore location will see an even greater influx of volunteers and donations.

“This is an opportunity to get more active salvage projects going, so we can go out into the community when a building’s getting torn down and take the stuff out on location so it doesn’t get thrown away,” Wood said. “That will bring us in more material to sell and allow us to do our job better of providing funding for Habitat. We’ll also be able to do a little waste reduction by keeping usable furniture out of the landfill.”

A personal passion of Wood’s, waste reduction, is also actively happening in the store. In ReStore’s first three months, the staff and volunteers filled only one dumpster—a huge achievement for the store and for waste reduction goals. Wood hopes that the Toyota Together Green project will also spread the word about ReStore while reducing waste throughout Harrisburg.

“When we get this architectural salvage program started, I hope we’ll be able to go into people’s homes that are getting remodeled and pull cabinet sets,” said Wood, who explained that cabinets are one of ReStore’s best sellers. “It saves the homeowner a bit of money because they’re not paying for a contractor to tear them out. We’ll come in and do it for free, or for a very nominal fee, and the homeowner gets the tax write off.”

Like any 501(c) 3 charitable organization, ReStore relies heavily on volunteers. In any given week, the store’s paid staff of three employees sees volunteers moving items, doing pick-ups at donors’ homes or working on the administrative side of things.

“You can come in and clean the store or serve on a committee,” Wood laughed. “There’s a wide spectrum of volunteer opportunities available.”

To learn more about the ReStore, or to donate or volunteer, please visit https://harrisburghabitat.org/restore.