BRATTLEBORO-ReNew Salvage is back.
A new incarnation of the used and surplus building material resource will host a grand opening on Saturday, July 11, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at its new storefront at 234 Elliot St. The official ribbon cutting is at 10 a.m., followed by brief remarks.
In this endeavor, two entities — Deconstruction Works (DW) and Reclaimed Materials Resource Management (RMRM) — are jointly operating ReNew Building Materials & Salvage, a business that was launched in 2004, rocketed to a major expansion in 2009, but was defunct by 2013.
DW’s Erich Kruger and Marcus Jones of RMRM have come together to bring new life not only to quality old materials, but also to the site.
The storefront had been vacant for several years since Falvey Pool closed the retail space and moved to Vernon.
Jones bought the building in January, renovated it throughout the winter, and opened to the public on May 16.
“We’re kind of breaking commercial life into that neighborhood,” Kruger says of the microbusiness district that’s also home to Millie’s Antiques, The Root Social Justice Center, and Whetstone Studio for the Arts. “So it’s kind of a two-for-one.”
Working across Vermont, New Hampshire, and western Massachusetts, DW carefully recovers doors, windows, lumber, fixtures, and hardware that a wrecking crew would otherwise send straight to the dumpster.
Many projects reach a 75% reuse-and-recycle rate, with materials coming back as what they were originally built to be, as promotional material for the company puts it: “A door stays a door. A beam stays a beam. DW has proven that deconstruction is not just possible — it works.”
Reclaimed Materials Resource Management supports deconstructing buildings rather than demolishing them, so that valuable building materials can be given a second life instead of filling landfills.
Kruger and Jones say they “think in generations.”
“We believe everyone should have access to habitable shelter, and that starts with access to quality, affordable building materials,” they say.
Kruger and Jones extend the mission into the larger context of contributing to a world with clean air, clean water, nutritious food, habitable shelter, and plentiful energy.
“It sounds too big to be feasible; however, if we start now, the groundwork will be laid for future generations to grow,” they add.
A history of renewal
Since its inception in 2005, ReNew was a story of resilience amid recession, as the nonprofit that deconstructed buildings and resold salvaged material thrived even as major corporations struggled.
Founded by Kruger, the organization salvaged items like doors, sinks, and lumber, keeping hundreds of tons of material out of landfills annually. It employed a mix of workers, including formerly homeless individuals, and had grown enough to need a larger warehouse.
With a $1 million USDA grant already in hand, it was raising additional funds for a 10,000-square-foot expansion. However, just a year later, Kruger’s position as executive director was eliminated by the ReNew board of directors, reportedly due to financial pressures.
The board cited an operating deficit from 2008 IRS filings and described a “financial crisis” driven by higher costs and falling revenue. The decision drew strong pushback from supporters, with the board acknowledging Kruger’s contributions while defending the need to streamline operations.
In 2012, ReNew launched an emergency fundraising campaign, needing at least $40,000 quickly to stay open, but by 2013 the company had closed its doors. The recession had reduced both contractor donations and homeowner remodeling, shrinking ReNew’s supply and sales. Rising overhead costs compounded the problem.
The aftermath of the Brooks House fire and Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 had also delayed fundraising efforts.
The story traces a mission-driven nonprofit moving from rapid expansion to leadership turnover to a fight for survival, shaped largely by the broader recession’s impact on construction and donations.
“ReNew let me go in 2010, and then it stumbled along for a couple more years before becoming insolvent and closing,” says Kruger, who went on to work with FingerLakes ReUse in Ithaca, New York, for a couple of years.
He returned to Brattleboro around the time his second child was born and started Deconstruction Works as a member-owned worker cooperative.
Of the four founding members, he and Tom Shea remain. Shea runs a crew in the northern part of the state, while Kruger runs one based in Brattleboro.
“Because this business is for-profit, we’ve partnered with Marcus Jones and RMRM to facilitate charitable donations for customers who can take advantage of that,” says Kruger.
Since around 2014, Deconstruction Works has been selling materials online, with transactions completed from the back of Kruger’s truck, via seasonal tag sales, and directly from jobsites.
When the lease on his storage area, formerly part of the Stop & Go complex on Putney Road, came into question, Kruger decided it was time to open a bricks-and-mortar retail space.
“This allows more folks access to view and shop the deconstructed building materials, tools, and so much more, and also makes it easier for people to make donations,” he says.
Current shop hours are Monday through Thursday, 4:30 to 6 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and by appointment.
Kruger is in the field doing construction Monday through Thursday, so he and Jones split the store hours on Fridays. As Kruger puts it, “weekends are for family.”
Jones, Kruger says, played a big part in the renovation and efficiency project of revamping the storefront, although he is busy with other work as well.
“Marcus and RMRM are still doing great things in the southwestern corner of the state, keeping building materials out of the landfill and advocating for greener building methods, as well as providing logistical support to our deconstruction projects,” Kruger says.
He describes the storefront, inventory, and website as “works in progress.”
“As you can imagine, many of the fixtures in the new store are repurposed, as well as all the inventory,” he says. “We are excited to be part of our downtown neighborhood, bringing together community, affordability, and environmental action.”
Separate parts of a whole
Jones co-founded Reclaimed Materials Resource Management in 2022, he says, “after meeting Kruger and learning about the world of reclaimed material.”
Recognized by the IRS as a tax-deductible, tax-exempt nonprofit, the organization is “focused on keeping usable building materials out of the landfill and getting them back into the community at a fraction of retail.”
“Erich and I are not the same operation,” Jones explains. “Deconstruction Works takes buildings apart. RMRM helps run the store and is the charitable organization receiving donations. We are two separate organizations focused on a shared goal. I think of it like a rising tide lifts all boats — without the effort of both organizations, ReNew wouldn’t exist today.”
Jones says the trust earned by the original ReNew in the community is why the two decided to revive the name.
“We’d rather honor that history than start over under a new banner,” he says.
“The community lost its salvage storefront and never got it back,” Jones continues. “Materials that Deconstruction Works recovered from job sites had nowhere to land, so they’d sell off the back of a truck at a fraction of their worth just to move them.”
He says that the storefront “fixes that.”
“Materials come back to ReNew, get stored and displayed properly, and sell at 50 to 70% below retail while still funding the work,” Jones says.
Jones says the pair decided to try this again “because the need never went away.”
“Vermont sends an enormous amount of construction and demolition material to the landfill every year, most of it perfectly reusable,” he says. “At the same time, plenty of people in this community can’t afford new materials to update their homes.”
A salvage store solves both problems at once, Jones says: “It keeps good material in use, and it makes shelter more affordable.”
For more information, visit renewsalvage.net or call 802-246-2400.
This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.