Fire-damaged Habitat store re-opens

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (WOOD) - Less than two months after fire destroyed the building, the Habitat for Humanity Re-store re-opened Thursday in a temporary location.

ReStore, a discount home improvement store, is a major source of funding for Habitat for Humanity and usually raises between $50,000 and $60,000 a month to cover overhead costs and allows cash donations to go toward their main mission of building houses.

Spartan Stores, which owns the new location in the 5700 block of Beckley Road in Battle Creek, gave Habitat for Humanity a break on the rent. The store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For regular customers like Chad Harris, the opening was like renewing an old acquaintance.

"Well, there's really good prices. Once in a while you can pick up a really good deal. You can get, like, antique furniture, really rare finds," Harris told 24 Hour News 8.

"We've never stopped picking up donations from people," said Joe Konrad, the executive director for Battle Creek Habitat for Humanity . "We had donations, technically a lot of donations from the affiliates, (and) the other Habitats in the state brought us merchandise to sell. We have a warehouse full of stuff."

There was no one working in the Habitat offices or store when the fire erupted on November 4.

"We're very fortunate no one was in the building because it would have been very hard for them to get out," Fire Chief Larry Hausman told 24 Hour News 8 that day.

Firefighters spent about two hours dousing the flames, and about another two hours extinguishing all the hot spots. The department put about 250,000 gallons of water on the building. Chief Hausman said half of the building was damaged by water and the other half by fire, and said the fire was not suspicious.

A cause has not been determined.