Deconstruction Depot and St. Vincent De Paul Society Make Shopping Fun

The Society of St. Vincent De Paul does a lot of good for the city of Dayton and those who need help. In addition to a food bank and furniture bank, the organization also runs a transitional housing program, vehicle donation program and a gateway shelter. The organization also raises money through a thrift store and its recent addition, the Deconstruction Depot.

I remember visiting the St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store when I was younger, but hadn't been there in close to 20 years. That should tell you how long the organization has been helping those in the Dayton area. When I made a comment about furniture recently, my mom suggested I visit the thrift store and I found myself going back to my old haunt.

The St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store is not the place to go if you're looking for clothing, knickknacks or really anything beyond furniture because every other department is lacking. The book section for example, fit on just a few shelves. The shelves were organized by genre, but books weren't placed on the correct shelves.

The clothing department was fairly pitiful, save for a few new lettermen jackets the organization recently had donated. Signs out front stated that the store had a 20-percent off sale on furniture, but I found the choices kind of sad. The best pieces were old armoires and cabinets, which were used for displays and not for sale. An old mid-century modern style desk was nice, but I couldn't justify the $80 tag when I didn't have space for it.

After paying for a few items, my boyfriend and I ventured over to the Deconstruction Depot side of the store. This is the place to go if you're interested in old architecture, are rehabbing an old house/building or just miss the old buildings that the city tore down. The Deconstruction Depot accepts building material donations of all kinds and it clearly shows.

Old doors of all kinds, including exterior and interior doors were on display. The store had hundreds of doors and hundreds of windows. Some of the windows had broken panes, while others were in perfect condition. The store even had old mantles and old-fashioned metal grates. As someone with a degree in historic preservation, this was my idea of heaven.

The store also had a number of smaller items, including door locks, hooks for hanging on the walls and old outlet covers. The prices were middle of the road, with some so cheap you wanted to grab it and take it home and others so high that you winced. There was a lack of consistency with the pricing too. One mantle had a $150 price tag, while one in better condition, but the same age was only $100. A hanging rack with multiple hooks was $10, while one with more hooks and in worse condition was $15. Two windows from the same house and in the same shape also featured two different prices.

The Deconstruction Depot is similar to the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, with a few exceptions. The Deconstruction Depot is open more often and has a larger selection of old pieces. The Habitat for Humanity Re-Store is only open a few days a week and has quite a few new pieces, donated by local stores. I'd also have to say that Deconstruction Depot is significantly less expensive.

Though we didn't buy anything from the Deconstruction Depot, my mind's been working on overdrive since our visit. The store got my creative juices flowing, with ways to reuse the old architectural pieces in new and inventive ways. I can't wait until my next visit.