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• In this shaky economy, the 12,000-square-foot facility has been seeing changes in the type of donations and number of customers. And contractors build plans around bargains - say French doors instead of sliding ones. Rehabbers shop for ideas before committing to something like the color of tiles.
  
  "It's that thrift-shop experience, where you can go every week . . . to kind of give you an idea of what new home-improvement project might be around the corner," said Les Scheinfeld, associate director of Habitat's Suffolk affiliate. "It just opens your eyes up to the possibilities if the items are there and the price is right."
  
  The price of a used home oil tank was so right a few weeks ago - $175, versus about $300 for a new one - that retired New York City firefighter Roger Adams practically forced ReStore director Paul Camassa to take his money.
  
  Adams, who's fixing up his Wyandanch house, resisted putting a hold on the tank even though his pickup truck didn't have room to haul everything he wanted. His ReStore philosophy: If you want it, buy it because his competitors - construction companies - once beat him to new doors.
  
  "I got to pay for it because I don't want it to walk," Adams insisted, trying to usher Camassa behind the counter so he could fork over $260.70 for lumber, the tank and other items.
  
  Reborn in Ronkonkoma
  ReStore opened in Ronkonkoma about two years ago after operating with limited hours and space behind its Habitat offices in Middle Island since 2002. Back then, it looked like a "junkyard" in Scheinfeld's eyes, with donated material piled here and there.
  
  Now, it's a no-frills warehouse with paper signs and a small staff of 11.
  
  There are no permanent signs, multiple cash registers or wide aisles, but ReStore is filled with stories from the business world. The assemble-yourself furniture from Brazil was from a man who couldn't make his business work and had to forfeit the goods in lieu of unpaid charges for furniture storage. Two pallets of colored cords for window blinds came from a retiring merchant. A company selling fireplaces gave its display models and about 50 slabs of marble mantelpieces to make room for new styles.
  
  Stores paid by manufacturers to destroy the past season's items instead drop them off at ReStore. Cancos Tile and Stone, a Long Island-based family-owned business, has given truckloads of tile for 10 years.
  
  "It may not be the latest style, but it's still first-quality material," said owner and vice president Bernadette White. "When we moved our Merrick warehouse [ReStore and Habitat] took a lot of stuff. We were glad to get rid of it because honestly, you would put it in a Dumpster and pay for it to get taken away. If somebody makes good use out of it, so be it. . . . Real estate is expensive on Long Island. Warehousing it and the carrying costs of all the items really takes its toll."
  
  Sometimes the donations are sizable enough to help build or furnish Habitat homes, but ReStore has another primary purpose.
  
  Keeping landfills empty
  "One of the missions of Habitat's ReStore is also to keep the landfills as empty as possible," Camassa said. "Most people would throw the stuff away. Most contractors can't be bothered with it. If you took out 20 windows of your home, that may take up a good portion of your Dumpster, and a Dumpster may cost you $400 or $600. Not only can we save you money for disposal, we can provide you with a tax write-off, too."
  
  About 65 percent of ReStore's customers are homeowners, Camassa estimated. The store can be perfect for certain people, he said, like those who may not care about building a backyard shed with mismatched siding or taking a year to finish, waiting for stock to come in.
  
  "We got a lot of folks who are building a cabin up in Maine or upstate New York or they're redoing a barn, and they'll come in and get windows and doors from us for a fraction of the price," the director said. "Can you imagine refurbishing a barn and having a $4,000 bay window or something that you picked up for six or seven hundred bucks?"
  
  But in this economy, ReStore has seen fewer big-scale donations from vendors.
  
  Recently, Joe Silver, who works for Caldara and Sons Contracting Inc. in Bohemia, bought $300 worth of siding from ReStore and noted that trips there were not as profitable now because there are fewer bulk donations.
  
  "Now it's more used stuff from homeowners," he said.
  
  Alternative to retail stores
  But it's also this same economy that's making ReStore a bigger success than ever. More homeowners come in instead of going to retail stores, officials said. Last year, the store reported $398,217 in gross sales. This year it's already beaten that figure in the first nine months, with $469,813 in sales.
  
  "It's increased awareness, traffic flow and customer counts in the store," Scheinfeld said of the economy. "Look at the reports that Wal-Mart is doing so well right now. If the economy was better, people might still be shopping at other department stores, but people are looking for the lower-cost way to make it through the next month, the next week even."
  
  The revenue goes back into the charity's coffers, and Habitat officials hope that the store will make enough profit next year to fund an entire Habitat house. That's about $100,000, a little bit more than the $85,000 profit ReStore made last year.
  
  As word of ReStore spreads, new donors call, helping to wash away the decrease in donations from longtime bulk contributors, Scheinfeld said.
  
  Like many businesses, ReStore is trying to change with the times. It plans to accept goods that were rejected in the past because of lack of space, such as furniture. So now, it's hunting for a bigger warehouse.
  
  "The whole thing is, run this like a thrift shop," Scheinfeld said. "It should be a fun, explorative shopping experience where every week you never know what new material has been donated."