Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore has opened a second location in Kelowna.

(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)

As stores shutter their doors to prevent the spread of COVID-19, West Kelowna’s Habitat for Humanity Restore is now selling items online.

Okanagan Restores are closed to the public, but locals will be able to buy furniture and housewares online and pick them up at the non-profit’s West Kelowna location, said Neil Smith, chief operating officer with Habitat for Humanity Okanagan.

“We are a skeleton staff, we had to go through the temporary layoffs at all of our locations because they're closed. But we’re trying to be able to generate some income somehow because we still have rents to pay in our facilities in the valley,” he said.

Items from across the Okanagan are sent to the West Kelowna location, where they can be picked up.

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The wares that are posted online are new, largely gleaned from local stores that have closed or that have purged their old stocks, he said.

“We’ve got a number of partners across the Okanagan valley that supple Restores with discontinued, old stock, or overstocks.”

Social distancing measures will be followed and residents are expected to load items into vehicles themselves, he said. Once buyers take items home, there will be no refunds.

Habitat for Humanity Okanagan decided to implement an online platform since it’s been well-received in other markets, but Smith said it’s too soon to tell if it will be successful here. They launched the site April 2.

There are Restore locations in Kelowna, West Kelowna, Vernon and Penticton. Donations centres are currently closed as well as retail locations, Smith said. The Kamloops location is not affiliated with Habitat's Okanagan chapter and does not have an online store, Smith said.

Shop at Okanagan location online using Shopify.

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