Riessner credits the economic downturn and the subsequent slide in new-home building, for what he calls "an avalanche" of donated products now spilling into local ReStores. Much of the material, which recently included 40,000 square feet of carpet tiles and enough pre-cut granite countertops for 22 townhouses, were destined for new multi-family projects that have now been shelved.
Starts of new condominiums and townhomes were down 70 per cent across Metro Vancouver for the first five months of this year, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Strata starts are off 86 per cent in the Mission-Abbotsford area and down 98 per cent in the Chilliwack region of the Lower Mainland.
Just 2,112 new strata units have broken ground in Metro Vancouver as of the end of May, with only 569 in Vancouver, which had seen more than 2,000 condo starts in the same period last year.
The Vancouver ReStore is set up in a 20,000-square-foot warehouse, which costs Habitat for Humanity $25,000 a month in rent. Originally planned as part of a production centre to build pre-fab pieces for low-cost homes, it is now packed with hardwood flooring, lamps, tiles, kitchen and bathroom cabinets and tons of other building materials and furniture, some of it brand new and donated by local retailers.
ReStore policy is to sell at 50 per cent off retail on new products and up to 95 per cent off used material, Riessner said. The Vancouver outlet is now acting as a clearing house to send donated material to 10 ReStores across the province.
Yet other ReStores may soon be seeing their own deluge of unsold building products. So far this year, condominium and townhouse starts are down 94.8 per cent in Victoria, 98.8 per cent in Kelowna - to just four units in May - and down 82.5 per cent for all B.C. urban markets. Riessner welcomes the potential donations.
ReStores not only divert hundreds of tons of material and furnishings from landfills annually, he said, but are also the main fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity, which is completing a 27-unit townhouse project for low-income families in Burnaby, as well as other projects across the province.
It has also, inadvertently, become one of the largest building product retailers in Metro Vancouver.
From the Western Investor, August 2009
