Spend Black Friday at the ReStore

Tired of grubby, fevered commercialism ruining your holiday spirit? Here's a bright idea for your holiday gift shopping: Habitat For Humanity's ReStore in is having a "Black Friday Sale."

And why not? Selecting holiday gifts from ReStore's recycled treasures can provide sweet and meaningful gifts that just aren't available in typical retail outlets or on-line. And there's a good reason: they don't make them anymore.

A big sparse room filled with donated furniture and home fittings may not automatically spring to mind in the context of "Light Up Night," Macy's holiday windows, and slinky young women in cocktail dresses spritzing perfume in your face, but think it through and you'll see the attraction and value of ReStore's one-day event.

Located in Edgewood Towne Centre near Planet Fitness, the store will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday with special deals and prices ... but not a cocktail dress in sight.

Think of ReStore as a really big garage sale without clothing—or junk. It's all good stuff, though some of it is spectacularly elderly and peculiar. Some of it, you're not even sure what it is. That's part of the fun.

Hey, it's not as easy as buying a gift card or a magazine subscription, but for those few holiday gifts you really care about, what could be more special and authentic than an item of substance? Something with some human history behind it?

* a century old cookie jar

* an honest-to-God cast-iron skillet

* charming old children's books

* oil paintings and posters of questionable taste -- many of them goofy enough to be stylish

* Fisher Price toys like you played with 40 years ago

* a hand-fabricated brass lighting fixture, crafted by an actual human being

* a Wilson Augusta putter

* novelty lamps of all descriptions

* a Cathedral Of Learning candy dish

* bookends, ashtrays and serving platters

* you-shake-it corn poppers suitable for the fireplace

It's not all tchotchkes and gewgaws by any means. Solid, useful, practical items—bookcases, tables, small appliances, office furnishings, stools, upholstered chairs—abound.

OK, maybe your family and friends are insensitive clods and brats who are too commercially brainwashed for this kind of thing and require the newest and gaudiest (and priciest) gifts.

Fine, then treat yourself at ReStore. Maybe some vintage Steelers memorabilia from the Steel Curtain era? For the bon vivant, perhaps a wooden—real wood—headboard for your bedroom, suitable for carving notches? A plumber's wrench as long as your arm? An ottoman? A coat rack?

Habitat For Humanity, which operates ReStore here and elsewhere, is a philanthropic organization. They describe their prices as "fair" and their Black Friday prices as "extremely fair." You and I would say "cheap"—the prices, but never the goods.

The outlet is new to the neighborhood, having opened the 25,000-square-foot facility on July 28. ReStore accepts donated goods which are sold to the general public at a fraction of the retail price.

Proceeds support a range of Habitat programs, including construction of Habitat homes. The operation also promotes re-use, diverting  valuable items and materials from landfills, where they typically would end up.

ReStore

1635-B South Braddock Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA  15218

Phone: 412-351-0512

Website: pittsburghhabitat.org/shop