Is Habitat for Humanity ReStore Worth It? I Have Opinions (because of course I do)

In December of 2022, my ex-husband caused $275,000 worth of damage to my home. On purpose. It’s a long, sordid story that I am actively choosing not to relive right now, but what I can tell you is that I am still fixing it. There is no insurance money. There is no magic renovation budget. What there is, is patience I did not know I had, a very specific kind of rage that has been extremely useful for fuelling home improvement projects, and a standing appointment with Habitat ReStore Ottawa before I walk into a single retail store.

This is that story. And also a very practical guide to why Habitat ReStore should probably be your first stop too, even if your circumstances are considerably less dramatic than mine.

What Even Is a Habitat ReStore?

If you have never been inside a Habitat for Humanity ReStore, you likely have one of two assumptions about it: that it is for contractors, or that it is a thrift store for furniture. Both are wrong, or at least wildly incomplete.

ReStore is what happens when a department store and a reuse retailer have a very practical, community-minded baby. You will find furniture, appliances, home decor, clothing, building materials, tools, garden supplies, lighting, hardware, and things you did not know you needed until you saw them. The inventory comes from individual donors and from retail partners who donate overstock, display items, and returns. Which means a significant portion of what you find there is brand new. Never touched. Tags still on.

Here is the part that makes it different from every other thrift or reuse operation though: every dollar you spend goes directly to Habitat for Humanity’s mission of building affordable housing in your community. Not to shareholders. Not to a private equity firm that bought a thrift chain. To houses. For people who need them. I did a whole podcast episode about this on What She Said if you want the deeper dive but the short version is that shopping at ReStore is one of those rare situations where the good deal and the good deed are the exact same transaction.

ReStore has been operating in Canada for 30 years. The first one opened in Winnipeg. There are now locations across North America, and in Ottawa alone there are three.

Why I Go Before Anywhere Else

Here is the thing about a $275,000 repair bill with no insurance backing it: you get creative, or you get nowhere.

In the beginning I was impatient about it. I wanted the house fixed, I wanted the damage gone, I wanted to stop living in a construction zone that was a daily reminder of something I was actively trying to move past. But home renovation does not work like a TikTok transformation. Nobody is snapping their fingers and revealing a finished kitchen in fifteen seconds. The reality, at least my reality, is that you earn the money, you find the deal, you do the work, and then you earn some more money and find the next deal. It is slow. It is occasionally infuriating. And it has made me a significantly better shopper than I was before any of this happened.

ReStore is where I go first because it has genuinely never let me down for home renovation and repair supplies. Tile, flooring, fixtures, hardware, drywall — these things show up there regularly, often new, always at prices that make the alternative feel genuinely offensive. When you are working through a repair list the length of mine, paying full price at a big box hardware store for something you can find at ReStore for a fraction of the cost is not just unnecessary, it is a choice I refuse to make.

On days when I need retail therapy and I am in full treasure hunt mode, I will do the full Ottawa circuit — all three ReStores plus the thrift stores in between — before I set foot in a single retail store. It sounds excessive until you find a brand new garden hose reel for $15 when you had just priced the same thing at $100 two days earlier. Then it sounds like genius.

What I Actually Found On My Last Visit

I recently did two ReStore visits back to back, starting at my local, the Train Yards location, and then driving over to the City Centre store, which I had never been to before. Here is what I found.

At Train Yards:

The building materials section was, as usual, exactly what I needed it to be. Tile, fixtures, hardware — the kind of inventory that would cost a small fortune at Home Depot and shows up here priced like it should be. I am working through a specific list of repairs and this location has come through for me more than once.

At City Centre:

This is where things got genuinely exciting. I found a brand new, never opened garden hose reel for $15. I had priced the exact same category of product at $100 just days before. I picked it up without a second thought. I also found two Muskoka chairs — brand new, tags still attached, the kind you see stacked outside Canadian Tire every summer for $100 each. They were $25 each. I didn’t need these sadly, so I hope they’ve found a loving home because what a deal!

I also picked up two pairs of jeans. Brand new. $15 each.

The City Centre location is right next door to a pub, which I mention not because it is relevant to the shopping experience but because it is genuinely useful information and I think you deserve to have it.

And Stittsville, if you have never been, is enormous. It is the kind of store you need to budget actual time for.

Wait, the Clothing Is New?

I have been thrifting my whole life. I have been going to ReStore for home renovation supplies for years. And I genuinely did not know, until recently, that the clothing at ReStore is new. All of it. Every piece of clothing in a Habitat for Humanity ReStore is brand new, donated from retail partners clearing overstock and returns.

I say this as someone who has no problem whatsoever with secondhand clothing and who in fact prefers it most of the time. But there is something worth knowing here: when you walk into ReStore and head to the clothing section, you are not browsing donated wardrobes. You are browsing overstock from retailers, priced at a fraction of what it would cost anywhere else, with every dollar of your purchase going to affordable housing.

That is not a thrift store. That is something else entirely.

Related Reading

Myths About Thrifting: 10 Things You Need to Stop Believing

Think thrifting is for people who can’t afford new? Think again. We’re busting 10 myths about thrifting and the truth might surprise you.

Read the Article

Things You Didn’t Know You Could Find There

A Note on Gardening (And My One Regret)

I walked past the garden section on my last visit without stopping because I had not thought to look there. I found out afterwards, mostly by looking more carefully, that ReStore carries planters, garden tools, peat moss, and seeds.

Seeds. At a reuse store.

I am making a note here publicly so that I hold myself accountable: next spring, ReStore is my first stop for garden supplies. If you are already ahead of me on this, I respect you and also I am slightly annoyed at myself.

The Unexpected Antique Finds

ReStore is not an antique store. But because the inventory comes from individuals, estates, downsizing households, and retail partners across the city, you genuinely never know what is going to show up between the light fixtures and the tile samples.

I found a 1917 Monarch typewriter on a recent visit. Working condition. Fifty dollars. There was another man in the store who had also spotted it and was clearly deliberating. I have never in my life pretended to be more interested in a nearby shelf of miscellaneous hardware. The second he walked away I had that typewriter in my hands.

This is the part of ReStore that is impossible to plan for and equally impossible to replicate anywhere else. Antique hunters and vintage collectors would do well to add their local ReStore to the regular rotation, not because you will find something extraordinary every time, but because the only way to be there on the day you do is to show up consistently. Frequency is the whole strategy. The typewriter was there because I was there. It is that simple.

Where to Find Habitat Restore Ottawa

There are three Habitat for Humanity ReStore locations in Ottawa:

• Train Yards — my local, great for building materials and home goods
• City Centre — excellent selection, conveniently located next to a pub
• Stittsville — enormous, budget serious time

You can also browse inventory online at restoregoshop.ca before you go. And if you are not in Ottawa, Habitat Canada’s website has a location finder for stores across the country.

Is Habitat ReStore Ottawa Actually Worth It?

Did you seriously get this far and think I would say anything but yes? YES, without hesitation.

But I want to be specific about why, because “it is cheap and for a good cause” undersells why the ReStore is so great.

Habitat ReStore Ottawa is worth it because the inventory is largely new, not secondhand. Because the prices are genuinely, sometimes shockingly good. Because the money you spend builds houses for people in your community who need them. Because no two visits are the same and that keeps it interesting. And because in an economy where everything costs more than it did two years ago and the pressure to spend wisely has never felt more real, having a first stop that routinely delivers what you need at prices that make sense is not a nice-to-have. It’s a smart strategy for surviving an economy that is genuinely punishing us right now.

I am rebuilding my home one smart purchase at a time. ReStore is a significant part of how I am doing that without losing my mind entirely, which at this point I consider a genuine accomplishment.

Go. Browse. Come back. Tell me what you found.

This post is sponsored by Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa ReStore. All opinions, finds, and price comparisons are entirely my own.