Atlanta’s Habitat for Humanity opened a Second ReStore Location

Last week, Atlanta Habitat for Humanity opened a new ReStore location on Old National National Highway in South Fulton.

Mayor of South Fulton William Edwards along with Atlanta Habitat Board Chair Danielle Cheung and Chief Executive Officer Lisa Gordon attended the ribbon cutting.

In the parking lot are two electric car charging stations, which are the first to appear in the city of South Fulton. The 30,000 square-foot facility sits on 6.2 acres of land. Even those who don’t have Habitat for Humanity homes are welcome to shop at the store and community center.

“This is such a historic moment for us. It’s our largest expansion in our 38-year history of Atlanta Habitat,” Gordon said. “Back in 2015, when I joined the team, we had a slogan to say ‘build, thrive, and grow’. And part of our ‘grow’ and our strategic plan was to be in South Fulton and to be here as a present force and to be a part of this community. This very building has its purpose in serving our families in South Fulton and our mission of advancing homeownership.”

The goal for the ReStore is to aid Atlanta Habitat for Humanity serve 1,200 families by 2025. The organization went from helping 50 families in 2016 to about 150 every year. In 2019, they served over 200 families.

“In the last five years, we have invested in our communities $40 million,” Gordon said. “This facility was an investment of over $6 million in the South Fulton community. We felt it was important to be a part of the economic development.”

Atlanta Habitat for Humanity plans to help those who live in South Fulton with their second ReStore and East Point and Fairburn.

“We want [residents of these communities] to be able to reside safely in their homes,” Gordon said. “In this past year during the pandemic, it’s been more important than ever to have a safe place to live.”

The opening of the ReStore took Atlanta Habitat for Humanity five years to complete.

“We actually adopted our strategic plan in 2016,” Gordon said. “Part of that strategic plan was that we were going to expand into the city of South Fulton and serve part of our geographic area that we just hadn’t been able to serve. And so, from the time we launched that in May of 2016 we had to figure out ‘How are we going to do this? What does the expansion mean?’

After the conception of this project, Gordon and her team moved on to funding and selecting land in a location that was ideal for serving the community they were passionate about helping. Gordon is excited to see what was just an idea be brought to completion.