One stop shopping: Sale of building materials raise money for affordable housing

Simon Ladaa walks up each aisle slowly, carefully looking at what’s for sale.

So far he’s found a fuse box, which sits in the front of his cart. He continues to hunt through the selection of electrical equipment, including light switch covers. There are about a dozen of them. It’s not that Ladaa needs a lot right now. He’s stocking up because at some point he will. And supplies, these days, aren’t always available. Or this cheap.

Also sitting in the cart is an old wood leveler. That may not be the proper term for the contraption, a single metal piece with a blade on the bottom, like an ancient sander. He illustrates how it works by running it up a piece of wood, shaving a slice. It levels the wood, he says. So that’s the name he goes with.

He shops here not only for the materials but old pieces, antiques, like the shaver. He’s a collector of sorts.