Habitat for Humanity celebrated the fifth anniversary of ReStore, their second-hand retail store on Aprill Dr., by opening a second ReStore just a few hundred yards north of the first one October 1. Vic Whipple, director of both stores, says the 1,300-square-foot space on Jackson Rd. is a real storefront, unlike the old store, which is a 16,000-square-foot warehouse.

Although everything the ReStore sells is used, the new store carries higher-end stuff. “We’ve been getting a lot more donations of nice stuff to the [original] store,” Whipple says. “Furniture, antiques, that kind of thing.” The problem is letting people know. The original ReStore is at the rear of a small complex of buildings across from the Quality 16, next door to Planet Rock. “No one really knows we’re back here,” Whipple says.

Visibility’s not a problem at the new store. It’s located in the strip mall on Jackson across from the cineplex. Whipple says he thinks of the new store as a Whitman Sampler of what Habitat has to offer. If customers want more, “we send people back to the warehouse.” All proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley.

Whipple says they accept cabinets, appliances, furniture, building materials, home decor items, lumber, and more–“just about everything except mattresses, shoes, baby/infant items.” He says as the economy has evolved, each ReStore around the country has taken on its own identity. “Some even sell, believe it or not, wedding dresses.”

ReStore, 3909 Jackson Rd. (Jackson Centre), 478-6331. Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. h4h.org/restore