WATERVILLE — A nonprofit resale store in downtown Waterville that for 10 years has carried donated household items and building materials at reduced prices is expected to close later this month.

The Waterville Area Habitat for Humanity ReStore at 24 Silver St. has served customers well over the years, and its proceeds have been used to help build affordable homes, according to Peter Phair, the organization’s executive director.

The store’s board of directors has decided closing the store would be in the best interest of the nonprofit organization and its mission, Phair said.

The store is slated to close July 27.

“We recognize that it is a loss to the community and, thankfully, we’re not losing a lot of employees,” Phair said Thursday. “It’s not a big economic loss to the community, not a lot of salaries involved, but it’s a financial obligation for our organization that requires a significant amount of input financially, and the expectation is that there’ll be at least a break-even point.”

The COVID-19 pandemic forced changes in how the store operated, Phair said, and it has not been able to continue the way it used to as a result.

Donations of items were robust during the pandemic, and volunteers and staff members who believed in Waterville Area Habitat for Humanity’s mission of building affordable housing and keeping items out of landfills remained dedicated, he said. The organization will now focus on building houses and remaining part of the community, he said.

Waterville Area Habitat for Humanity is now building a house in Oakland for a veteran and his children. It is the seventh home the organization has built since the local organization began in 2002. People must apply for an affordable home, qualify financially and be eligible for a loan, according to Phair. They do not pay more than 30% of their income for the mortgage, he said.

Many individual volunteers and those from area businesses help build the homes, and businesses also donate materials.

A man enters the Waterville Area Habitat for Humanity ReStore at 24 Silver St. in downtown Waterville. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

The ReStore, which is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, will soon begin holding sales to try to reduce inventory, according to Phair. Anyone who wants more information should call the store at 207-616-0166. Items not sold by July 27 will be taken to other ReStores throughout Maine. There are six such stores, and a seventh is being built in Belfast.

The store carries a variety of items, including cabinets, appliances, furniture, doors, windows, lighting and plumbing fixtures, lumber, hardware, electrical items, tools and dishes.

The Waterville store now has one employee. Over the years, various agencies, including Goodwill Industries and Skills Inc., helped support the store by sending employees to help with certain tasks, such as cleaning and moving inventory, according to Phair. A core group of community members also volunteered regularly, and a woman who believes in Habitat for Humanity’s mission sends $25 a month to the nonprofit organization.

Waterville Area Habitat for Humanity offered a program called Building Foundations, which enabled five financially eligible families a month to go into the store and take $200 worth of items.

Longtime customer Ron Anderson of Chesterville shops Thursday at the Waterville Area Habitat for Humanity ReStore at 24 Silver St. in downtown Waterville. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Leaving the rented, 12,000-square-foot, two-story space will not present a financial loss because another entity will likely take over the lease, according to Phair.

“The space will be used,” he said. “I’m not sure what’s going in.”

Waterville Area Habitat for Humanity survives on grants, fundraising, donations and volunteer help. Those wishing to donate to or volunteer with the organization can do so through its website — watervilleareahfh.org — or its Facebook page.