A unique Edmonton business that recovers materials from businesses and homes destined for the dump – then resells them to interested buyers – has picked up some familiar fixtures of a recently-closed downtown pub.
Home Re-Use-Ables salvages materials from buildings undergoing facelifts or full rebuilds in the Edmonton area.
Many items are vintage or antiques that would be difficult to acquire anywhere else and the business’ latest acquisition may be of interest to some regulars of the Elephant & Castle – the recently-closed downtown Edmonton pub.
“We had the bar in this room, it was there less than 24 hours we had somebody come in and it was gone,” says Sherry Galan with Home Re-Use-Ables.
“We’ve been going through the doors like crazy.”
From chairs and decorative pieces to beer taps and even a railing – many pieces from the old Elephant & Castle in City Centre Mall are re-selling fast.
“The hand rail came in, it wasn’t even off the trailer before someone purchased it from us,” Galan said.
“We had a set of big double doors, they went immediately. Somebody had to have those for their homes. It’s all residences. I don’t think we’ve had any businesses buy stuff.”
Galan says the vast majority of sales have been to men who are buying pieces for their home bars or cabins.
“We had a lot of signage from them, the wooden bar signs, a lot of those went right away as well,” Galan said.
“Guys want them for their bars and cabins. They want something novel in there.”
One couple is even driving all the way from the Northwest Territories to buy a set of the old pub’s doors they spotted on Home Re-Use-Ables' website.
“They phoned and purchased them over the phone, which is rare for us, but we do do it,” Galan said.
Rosalie Patrick lives in Hay River and says she’s been scouring the web for used buildings supplies because her family is renovating their home.
“When I saw the door, I was just like ‘oh my God, I have to have them,’” Patrick said.
“I talked to my husband and he looked at them and he agreed. It was beautiful, the doors were just gorgeous.”
Unlike most buyers who made purchases for nostalgic reasons, the Hay River couple says they’ve never been to the pub – they just fell in love with the doors.
“‘Elephant & Castle’, the first thing I thought was, I've got six grandchildren and I thought oh, wouldn't that be something if they were to come in to grandma's house and saw this ‘Elephant & Castle’, almost like fairy land,” Patrick said.
“I thought, this would be a cool place for the grandkids and it says something about house.”
Patrick’s daughter is set to graduate from school in Red Deer, so the family is planning a road trip to acquire their Elephant & Castle doors.
“If you’ve seen the doors, you can’t replace even the glass in it. It’s so beautiful there’s no way I would ever find anything like that again,” Patrick says.
Galan says some items up for sale at Home Reusables are difficult to price because they aren’t necessarily antiques but hold high nostalgic value instead.
Elephant & Castle closed in the winter and Galan only put up the pieces for sale in the last few weeks.
She says she’s excited there’s been so much interest in the pub pieces – for more reasons than one.
“The other thing I find really cool, is that now we have the piece of Edmonton history all over Edmonton, in homes, in cabins,” Galan said.
“I just think it’s cool.”
Click here to see what else Home Re-Use-Ables has for sale.
With files from Laura Lowe
