diff --git a/src/init/AclInitializer.ts b/src/init/AclInitializer.ts
index b310b1b30..fe8632f5f 100644
--- a/src/init/AclInitializer.ts
+++ b/src/init/AclInitializer.ts
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ import { BasicRepresentation } from '../ldp/representation/BasicRepresentation';
 import type { ResourceIdentifier } from '../ldp/representation/ResourceIdentifier';
 import { getLoggerFor } from '../logging/LogUtil';
 import type { ResourceStore } from '../storage/ResourceStore';
+import { containsResource } from '../storage/StoreUtil';
 import { TEXT_TURTLE } from '../util/ContentTypes';
-import { NotFoundHttpError } from '../util/errors/NotFoundHttpError';
 import { ensureTrailingSlash } from '../util/PathUtil';
 import { Initializer } from './Initializer';
 
@@ -30,22 +30,10 @@ export class AclInitializer extends Initializer {
 
   public async handle(): Promise<void> {
     const rootAcl = await this.aclManager.getAclDocument({ path: this.baseUrl });
-    if (!await this.hasRootAclDocument(rootAcl)) {
+    if (!await containsResource(this.store, rootAcl)) {
       await this.setRootAclDocument(rootAcl);
-    }
-  }
-
-  protected async hasRootAclDocument(rootAcl: ResourceIdentifier): Promise<boolean> {
-    try {
-      const result = await this.store.getRepresentation(rootAcl, {});
+    } else {
       this.logger.debug(`Existing root ACL document found at ${rootAcl.path}`);
-      result.data.destroy();
-      return true;
-    } catch (error: unknown) {
-      if (error instanceof NotFoundHttpError) {
-        return false;
-      }
-      throw error;
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/init/RootContainerInitializer.ts b/src/init/RootContainerInitializer.ts
index 32e798a18..c24bd048f 100644
--- a/src/init/RootContainerInitializer.ts
+++ b/src/init/RootContainerInitializer.ts
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ import { RepresentationMetadata } from '../ldp/representation/RepresentationMeta
 import type { ResourceIdentifier } from '../ldp/representation/ResourceIdentifier';
 import { getLoggerFor } from '../logging/LogUtil';
 import type { ResourceStore } from '../storage/ResourceStore';
+import { containsResource } from '../storage/StoreUtil';
 import { TEXT_TURTLE } from '../util/ContentTypes';
-import { NotFoundHttpError } from '../util/errors/NotFoundHttpError';
 import { ensureTrailingSlash } from '../util/PathUtil';
 import { generateResourceQuads } from '../util/ResourceUtil';
 import { PIM, RDF } from '../util/Vocabularies';
@@ -31,27 +31,12 @@ export class RootContainerInitializer extends Initializer {
   }
 
   public async handle(): Promise<void> {
-    if (!await this.hasRootContainer()) {
+    this.logger.debug(`Checking for root container at ${this.baseId.path}`);
+    if (!await containsResource(this.store, this.baseId)) {
       await this.createRootContainer();
-    }
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Verify if a root container already exists in a ResourceStore.
-   */
-  protected async hasRootContainer(): Promise<boolean> {
-    try {
-      this.logger.debug(`Checking for root container at ${this.baseId.path}`);
-      const result = await this.store.getRepresentation(this.baseId, {});
+    } else {
       this.logger.debug(`Existing root container found at ${this.baseId.path}`);
-      result.data.destroy();
-      return true;
-    } catch (error: unknown) {
-      if (!(error instanceof NotFoundHttpError)) {
-        throw error;
-      }
     }
-    return false;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/pods/GeneratedPodManager.ts b/src/pods/GeneratedPodManager.ts
index 72e188762..616a8a805 100644
--- a/src/pods/GeneratedPodManager.ts
+++ b/src/pods/GeneratedPodManager.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import type { ResourceIdentifier } from '../ldp/representation/ResourceIdentifier';
 import { getLoggerFor } from '../logging/LogUtil';
 import type { ResourceStore } from '../storage/ResourceStore';
+import { containsResource } from '../storage/StoreUtil';
 import { ConflictHttpError } from '../util/errors/ConflictHttpError';
-import { NotFoundHttpError } from '../util/errors/NotFoundHttpError';
 import type { Agent } from './agent/Agent';
 import type { IdentifierGenerator } from './generate/IdentifierGenerator';
 import type { ResourcesGenerator } from './generate/ResourcesGenerator';
@@ -33,15 +33,8 @@ export class GeneratedPodManager implements PodManager {
   public async createPod(agent: Agent): Promise<ResourceIdentifier> {
     const podIdentifier = this.idGenerator.generate(agent.login);
     this.logger.info(`Creating pod ${podIdentifier.path}`);
-    try {
-      const result = await this.store.getRepresentation(podIdentifier, {});
-      result.data.destroy();
+    if (await containsResource(this.store, podIdentifier)) {
       throw new ConflictHttpError(`There already is a resource at ${podIdentifier.path}`);
-    } catch (error: unknown) {
-      // We want the identifier to not exist
-      if (!(error instanceof NotFoundHttpError)) {
-        throw error;
-      }
     }
 
     const resources = this.resourcesGenerator.generate(podIdentifier, agent);
diff --git a/src/storage/StoreUtil.ts b/src/storage/StoreUtil.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..93440c24f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/storage/StoreUtil.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import type { ResourceIdentifier } from '../ldp/representation/ResourceIdentifier';
+import type { ResourceStore } from '../storage/ResourceStore';
+import { NotFoundHttpError } from '../util/errors/NotFoundHttpError';
+
+export async function containsResource(store: ResourceStore, identifier: ResourceIdentifier): Promise<boolean> {
+  try {
+    const result = await store.getRepresentation(identifier, {});
+    result.data.destroy();
+    return true;
+  } catch (error: unknown) {
+    if (error instanceof NotFoundHttpError) {
+      return false;
+    }
+    throw error;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/storage/routing/ConvertingRouterRule.ts b/src/storage/routing/ConvertingRouterRule.ts
index 6aff25975..1ee17c7c2 100644
--- a/src/storage/routing/ConvertingRouterRule.ts
+++ b/src/storage/routing/ConvertingRouterRule.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import type { Representation } from '../../ldp/representation/Representation';
 import type { ResourceIdentifier } from '../../ldp/representation/ResourceIdentifier';
-import { NotFoundHttpError } from '../../util/errors/NotFoundHttpError';
+import { containsResource } from '../../storage/StoreUtil';
 import type { ResourceStore } from '../ResourceStore';
 import type { PreferenceSupport } from './PreferenceSupport';
 import { RouterRule } from './RouterRule';
@@ -41,27 +41,11 @@ export class ConvertingRouterRule extends RouterRule {
     } else {
       // No content-type given so we can only check if one of the stores has data for the identifier
       store = await this.findStore(async(entry): Promise<boolean> =>
-        this.hasResource(entry.store, input.identifier));
+        containsResource(entry.store, input.identifier));
     }
     return store;
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Helper function that checks if the given store contains the given identifier or not.
-   */
-  private async hasResource(store: ResourceStore, identifier: ResourceIdentifier): Promise<boolean> {
-    try {
-      const response = await store.getRepresentation(identifier, {});
-      response.data.destroy();
-      return true;
-    } catch (error: unknown) {
-      if (error instanceof NotFoundHttpError) {
-        return false;
-      }
-      throw error;
-    }
-  }
-
   /**
    * Helper function that runs the given callback function for all the stores
    * and returns the first one that does not throw an error.