Marysville's old Mervyns store home to Habitat for Humanity

The former Mervyns department store in Marysville will be the new home of Habitat for Humanity's administrative offices, ReStore and volunteer training, the president of the Yuba-Sutter chapter for the nonprofit says.

Bill Williamson said the 66,337-square-foot former department store on D Street "looks monstrous in size compared to what we have now."

Habitat is leasing the old Mervyns building, which closed in December 2008, with an option to buy, Williamson said. The nonprofit based in Atlanta has more than 700 stores in the United States and Canada, he said. The new Marysville location will be one of the largest, Williamson said.

"We will probably be in the top five," he said.

The ReStore, now at 1501 B St. about a mile away from the old Mervyns, sells reusable home-improvement goods and materials at discount.

The new site is more than four times the size of the B Street location, Williamson said, and will include the site for training in energy efficiency and building.

Signs will mark the new site of Habitat for Humanity that's expected to open in January.

"You won't have any trouble reading them," Williamson said of the signs.

Volunteers are already scraping the black paint off windows where Mervyns once operated, he added. The grand opening is planned for Jan. 9. Hours for the ReStore will remain the same: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

The new building was well taken care of, Williamson said, and is very clean inside.

"We're not going to be doing much at all of any changing of walls," he said.

Donations of shelving material for the new site are welcome, Williamson said. Joseph Hale, director of the ReStore committee, said he's been working since April on the new site at the old Mervyns.

"I definitely feel like it paid off," Hale said of the effort.

He said it will be largest such Habitat for Humanity site in California.

Stacey Quackenbsuh, employment training co-ordinator for Experience Works, a federally-funded effort with a local office in Yuba City, said the new site will help with training through Habitat.

"It's all going to be under one roof," she said.

The local chapter of the nonprofit was founded in 1993 at a gathering held at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Yuba City. The Habitat website describes its primary goal as building "houses for God's people in Yuba and Sutter counties."

Habitat doesn't accept government funds for construction and income from the ReStore pays for its administrative costs.

Marysville City Councilman Dale Whitmore said he welcomes the nonprofit at the D Street site.

"Habitat for Humanity would be a good group," Whitmore said.