Habitat for Humanity ReStore — Attraction in Venice

The donations do not go to local low income home building. Repeat. Your donations do not go directly to build homes or support low income families.

They go to overhead on the old building,foolish sale signs at the end of the road, payroll for managers,vacation time and health insurance,office expenses and trucks that sit most of the time.. The managers drive nice cars,live in nice homes and make more than the average Venice resident. The money from the store is used for everything but building low income homes. Operate the store on volunteer labor or sell the building and build homes. It seems like the store operates to give a donor place to sit and feel important about their volunteer time and does not truly operate as a retail store for the community and partner families.

Most of the inventory is over priced dated furniture and clothes..The clothing area is a bizarre mix of low end odd sized clothes not a boutique as advertised. The plastic banners advertising local businesses seem cheap and out of place. Space would be better used for inventory or promoting the worldwide mission of Habitat not some friends insurance company or bank.

Close it down and lease the space or sell the building and transfer any donations to Sarasota Restore a real retail operation.

This place could be the biggest overpriced hustle in Venice.

Reply to owner.... Many if your items such as paint supplies, sunglasses and more are purchased not donated. That is false information.

2.Many of your items are not sellable and sent to the landfill . False information.

The proceeds after overhead are used to build homes. False information. It is used to cover expenses at the office such as payroll. The construction manager and more are paid very very well.

The store is used to fullfill a lonely donors fantasy of...

Paid for a piece of furniture on Tuesday, I told them I would pick it up Friday. The two employees behind the counter had no problem with that. My one year old got sick with a stomach bug so we did not go get it. Should I have called? Probably. We were all sleep deprived and worried so I didn't think about it. The following week comes and she is feeling better and I know we need to go pick it up. I just received a call - the first call since the purchase - I was nice to the lady on the phone, explained why I hadn’t picked it up and apologized and she quipped back with so much attitude. Told me I have until 5 pm to pick it up the next day or it is going back up for sale with no refund. I told her my husband would take off work and we would pick it up by then but when I asked her name, she hung up on me. I called right back and no answer. To make it worse, there was a really nice young girl when we bought it and she said people leave their furniture there for weeks at a time. We were not going to leave it that long but can all of your employees get on the same page? Don't tell me there's a 2 day limit on holds if THREE of your employees have told me otherwise. Very disappointed with the experience. For a place with humanity in the name, I...

I was shopping today at 10:00 am, and the sale sign on the wall said all clothing was $1.00. I took my purchases to the checkout, was charged $1.00 each, and had to buy another bag for $4 in order to get the discount. (I already have several, but I gladly buy their bags all the time.) Good deal so far. Then MARK, the cashier, got the same story from the lady behind me in line, and told her he would let her slide this time. Hmm. Ok. No $4 bag for her. So two hours later, I returned to buy more clothing. I went to the checkout and was informed that the sale no longer applied. I explained that I was there only two hours ago, and asked what happened. The cashier next to him said she would honor the discount for me. MARK told her not to “dare” give me the sale price. I asked why. He said they were a charity and were there to make money. Then he walked off and left the other cashiers standing there. Isn’t everything Habitat is selling something that they received for free?! I’m happy to pay whatever they ask, but that cashier was so rude, I will never return. There are too many other thrifts to shop at that are polite and non confrontational. It was...