Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa runs its ReStore operation across three separate storefronts in the capital region, giving the organization a wider retail footprint than most single-location charity resale shops. Shoppers can visit the City Centre store at 250 City Centre Avenue, the Train Yards location at 768 Belfast Road, or the Stittsville store at 3 Iber Road, each stocked with a rotating mix of new and gently used furniture, appliances, building materials, and home decor priced at 50 to 90 percent off comparable retail. The Stittsville store keeps extended weekday hours, open until 7pm Monday through Thursday and 8pm on Fridays, while the City Centre and Train Yards locations run daily from 10am to 6pm, and donation drop-off at all three closes an hour before the sales floor does.
What moves through these stores changes constantly, since inventory is entirely donation driven. On any given day, a shopper might find kitchen cabinetry pulled from a renovation, doors and flooring left over from a construction job, patio furniture, lighting fixtures, hardware, paint, or seasonal decor, alongside standard secondhand couches, dressers, and appliances. The organization also runs an online storefront, restoregoshop.ca, so that items can be browsed and purchased without a trip to any of the physical locations, a convenience that has become increasingly common among larger Habitat affiliates but is not universal.
One detail that distinguishes ReStore from an ordinary secondhand shop is that purchases are exempt from HST, a straightforward incentive layered on top of already discounted pricing. Donors, meanwhile, can request a tax receipt for eligible items once they sell for more than 100 dollars, and free pickup is offered for large furniture and appliances within the Ottawa service area, sparing donors the trouble of transporting bulky items themselves. The organization frames its retail operation with a simple three-word mission: shop, donate, build, since proceeds from all three stores flow directly into Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa’s affordable homeownership program.
That program partners with local families who contribute sweat equity toward building or renovating their own homes, then purchase them through an affordable mortgage geared to their income, a model that has made Habitat one of the more recognizable affordable housing nonprofits in the country. The ReStore network is the financial engine behind much of that work locally, converting donated furniture, cabinetry, and building supplies into funding for construction while simultaneously diverting large volumes of reusable material from area landfills. For renovators, first-time apartment furnishers, and anyone comparison shopping for used furniture in Ottawa, the multi-store ReStore network offers more selection and more convenient hours than a typical single-location thrift operation.
Because the three stores serve different parts of the city, from the urban core near City Centre Avenue to the fast-growing suburb of Stittsville, regular shoppers often check inventory at more than one location before making a purchase, particularly for larger furniture pieces or building materials that move quickly once priced. Volunteers handle much of the day-to-day sorting, pricing, and merchandising across all three stores, and the organization continues to welcome new volunteers alongside donors and shoppers. In short, Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa’s ReStore network is a three-location secondhand furniture, appliance, and building-materials retailer whose sales fund affordable homeownership for local families across the Ottawa region.
