Dunkley's Discount Movers helps with the move again

Dunkley's Discount Movers has come to our rescue again.  We had another company willing to donate a day of moving but they had to cancel last week.  We would have been stuck trying to move all the doors and windows over to the new store with just our box truck but we were able to hire Dunkley's for the day.  Spencer and his crew did a great job moving everything.  In fact they were so fast they wound up moving a few things we weren't planning to send to the new store.  They grabbed things and loaded them up faster than we could say, "No that is staying here."  We now have a Christmas Tree that will be available at the new store that we were going to sell at the old store.

We also had a great group from Capital One volunteering for the day.  They helped with unloading  the truck and placing the doors and windows in racks.

Dunkley Discount Moving helps in ReStore move



Dunkley Discount Movers filled this truck three times and unloaded it at the new ReStore

 When Spencer Dunkley of Dunkley Discount Movers heard that the ReStore would be moving he generously offered the use of his company for one day.  Yesterday his company gave us a huge boost by moving three truckloads of merchandise from the current store into the new location.  In one day we went from a virtually empty building to having almost enough furniture and appliances to open.  We still need to move many other items, especially doors and windows, but this has given us a great start on the move.  Spencer and his crew moved everything quickly, safely, and professionally.

Spencer Dunkley loading up his truck with merchandise to take to the new ReStore

Today our ReStore truck will be used to move more merchandise over.  We also have staff and volunteers at the new location to arrange items and everything needs to be priced.

Because the truck will be engaged in moving merchandise we have had to cut back on scheduled pickups.  Anyone interested in making a donation to the ReStore can take the items to the new store:  3312 Seminole Av.  Wilmington, DE 19808.  We will have people there accepting donations during store hours:  9-4 Tues-Fri and 9-2 on Saturday.

Improvements to new building

Front entrance to store



 The work renovating the new building is done and we should get the certificate of occupancy on Monday.  That will allow us to move sale items into the store.  We have had a number of large donations over the last several months that went into storage since we couldn't fit the donations in the current store.  Those items will be moved over and unloaded starting on Monday.




Racking for doors along back wall

 We were able to get into the store this week to have racking installed.  We have racks up for doors, windows, TVs, and lights.  Shelves and other fixtures have been moved into the store.  We will set them up throughout the store as they are needed.  An Americorps group has been working with the Habitat affiliate and built many of the fixtures for the store.  They also will be available next week to help us start moving into the store.  Several groups have also signed up to help with the move over the next month.

Employee breakroom

The building looks much better than it did when work began in July.  A new roof has been installed, electrical and plumbing have been updated,  the building had been painted, a new door has been added for a customer entrance, doorways have been knocked into the wall to allow easier access between the front area of the store and the back,  and the offices and employee breakroom areas have been redone. 




After all this time it will be a relief to finally get started on the move.  It is going to be a lot of hard work but we are all excited to get to opening day on November 10th.

Update on ReStore move as of 9-21-12

Our access to the new building has been delayed again.  We are now scheduled to get the building turned over to us on October 1st. We have had to adjust some of our plans slightly.  Fortunately we will be able to put shelving in the store next week.  Our plan to have items that are in storage moved over there has to be postponed until after the first.

We have been busy getting shelving ready to be taken to the new location.  Items for sale have been taken off many of the shelves and placed on tables.  We have been painting the shelves Habitat colors of blue and green.  A group from Americorps has  been in the Habitat warehouse building and painting fixtures.  They have also built sawhorses.  The fixtures and shelves will be moved to the new location next week.  We will use the saw horses in the store to set up temporary tables for items for sale.

We had scheduled a company to come in next Tuesday to set up racks and we had Dunkley's Discount Movers coming in Thursday to begin the move of items from storage.  The installation of the racking has been postponed one day and Dunkley's will come Thursday, October 4th.  We will have the Americorps group until the end of that week to help with moving items into the new store..

We are hoping we will not have anymore delays.  November 10th is our grand opening.  It will be difficult enough to get everything done in just over a month.

Thonet reproduction rocking chair to be auctioned

Some time ago we had a Thonet reproduction rocking chair in the ReStore.  Michael Thonet was an innovator in the process of bent wood.  The process allowed many new designs of furniture.  None of us on staff realized that we had a valuable piece of furniture until a volunteer pointed it out to us. We decided not to sell the chair in the store since we could not get enough for it. 

On October 4th, Habitat will have its annual Red, White, and Brew fundraiser.  It consists of wine and beer tasting along with a silent auction.  The Thonet reproduction rocking chair will be one of the items auctioned off.  The fundraiser will be held at The Carriage House at Rockwood Mansion.  For more information or to purchase tickets go to http://www.habitatncc.org/donate/rwb.php. 

Update on ReStore move as of 9-7-12

Things are going along well.  There have been a few more delays in getting the building ready for us to take possession.  We are now expecting to have access to the building by the end of this month.  Once that occurs we will have a lot of work to do to get the store ready for its opening.

First we need to get fixtures installed.  We will have to purchase racks for the new store.  The company that is selling us the racks will install them also.  That will occur right after we gain access and should only take a couple of days. 

We have stored some large donations that did not fit in our current location and those items will be moved to the Prices Corner location and be unloaded.  We expect that to take a few weeks to unload and price those items and get them placed in the store.  Dunkley Discount Movers has offered to spend a day helping us move.  We are also hoping to get a group from Americorps to help for the first couple of weeks that we are moving things into the new store. 

Towards mid to late October we will have everything out of the store.  This includes everything from the office, the register, and all fixtures as well as items for sale.  The new store should be ready to open by early November. 

New staff at the ReStore

As a non-profit we try to keep paid staff down to a minimum.  Volunteers are a great help in doing so but our new location will require a much larger number of full time employees.  In the past we have been fortunate to get either Americorps or Lutheran Volunteer Corps to fill in staffing needs without adding much to payroll.  Members of both groups are paid a stipend and the Americorps stipend is paid by the government.  Both of these programs are a great help to Habitat to advance the mission of building affordable housing.

This year we have increased the number of people we have from these groups.  An LVC member, Tyler, started last week.  Tyler goes out on pick-ups.  Like our last LVC member Tyler is from Minnesota, is quiet, and a hard worker.  Two Americorps members will be starting next week.  Hannah comes from Ohio and Allison is from Western Pennsylvania.  We are looking forward to working with these young people and hope they enjoy their year with Habitat in Delaware.