The History of our Habitat ReStore (Part 3)
The next major milestone for our ReStore was moving from our dead-end location to a great building located across from Home Depot on Main St. What was critical in this decision was that we knew that we had a winning idea, but needed to foster that idea into something great.
Check out the pics of our store:
The building is only 5000SF total, of which 4000SF is the ReStore and the rest is offices. As you can see from the sign pics, our location is very nice. I threw in the truck pic because I love our truck, which we bought new a couple years ago.
In September, the This-N-That Resale shop was enjoying moderate success in this location but had decided to close its doors. They approached us, and we entered into negotiations regarding buying out their inventory. After some discussion, board approval, and about $6000, we bought out This-N-That and moved in October 2004 (a mere 3-1/2 months after we opened). The rent increased by $500 per month, but the building was insulated, had great offices, and the location was awesome by comparison. As a result, traffic increased and everything got even better… location, location, location!
Over the next three years, our ReStore sales continued to grow, and despite a declining local and state economy, our affiliate grew while other local nonprofits were declining. But the hardest part was trying to project future sales, because we still had no other comparable ReStores upon which to emulate. I knew that at some point, the sales were going to plateau, but when? Fortunately, I projected accurately with the plateau occurring the fourth year. The second year, we saw about a 49% increase in sales; about 16% increase our third year; and we should see about a 1.5% increase after this fourth year (ending June 30, 2008). As I’ve learned from other more seasoned ReStores, this fourth year plateau is about right but it is certainly not a sure thing. I am of the opinion that if the economy was better and the local middle class had not collapsed, we would not have seen the sharp decline in donations this year. The demand is there, but not the supply!
I’m going to wrap up this article, The History of our Habitat ReStore, by saying that if you’re looking for a successful, small scale, ReStore model then I think we’ve built it pretty well. Dozens of ReStores have used our model throughout Michigan and the country, and those that have followed it have done very well. I hope this narration has helped you get an idea of the context shaping our ReStore. I’ll be updating this blog daily with more articles on how we’ve built a great ReStore and why it’s the cornerstone of our affiliate.
Mike
Tags: Business, Habitat for Humanity, nonprofit, Recycle, ReStore
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.