25 Years of Stories: Week 8: Reduce, reuse, recycle, ReStore.

By Rebecca Kleveland & Bea Flodeen

The ReStore is a unique part of Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity and has changed a lot over the years. In 2004, Cedar Valley Habitat ReStore was located at 725 N. Center Point Road in Hiawatha, in previously owned "Flooring Xpress" building. After the 2008 Flood that entirely wiped out the Cedar Valley Habitat main office in downtown Cedar Rapids, all affiliate operations were moved to the ReStore. In December 2010, both the ReStore and affiliate office moved back downtown.

“Two and a half years after Habitat moved out of downtown Cedar Rapids due to the flood, it is exciting to be back downtown closer to the core Cedar Rapids neighborhoods that we primarily serve with our housing mission,” said Karen Hufnagel, Cedar Valley Habitat’s board president in 2010.

Two‐thirds of Habitat’s operations – the affiliate offices and ReStore – moved literally yards from the organization’s pre‐flood location to the newly renovated “Peter Pan” building. Habitat is leasing more than 27,000 square feet of space in the building. Dozens of local sub‐contractors were involved in the rehabilitation. With the inclusion of the construction office and shop, located on First Street, all of Habitat’s operations are now located in buildings affected by the 2008 floods. This move was featured as one of the many "Signs of Progress," making a downtown area investment.

“We saw firsthand the devastation of the 2008 flood when our office was submerged,” said Jeff Capps, executive director. “We’re thrilled to return to the core of the city and be part of the awesome revitalization process already taking place here.”

ReStore’s purpose is to help fundraise for Habitat for Humanity with all of the proceeds going right back into Habitat. The other purpose of the ReStore is to help out the community by keeping things out of the landfill.

Read More
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The ReStore has many different aspects to it with customers being able to shop, donate, and volunteer. Shopping is a great way to help bring in money to Habitat as well as get work completed on your house. Not only does ReStore have gently used items but brand new items as well. ReStore of course needs donations in order to keep up with everyone’s shopping. We look for quality clean items that we can take and sell. We get such a variety of things from interior doors, claw foot tubs, lighting, to antiques. You never know what you will find when you come into the ReStore, some things are here one minute and gone the next. We enjoy having a loyal customer base that comes and shops on a regular, sometimes daily, basis. People enjoy coming into the ReStore not only for the discounted prices on gently used items, but for the great customer service. ReStore works hard at serving people by helping to carry out purchases of large items, loading purchases in vehicles, and helping to unload donations from vehicles as well.

Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity ReStore
Current location: 350 6th Ave SE, Cedar Rapids

We share the parking lot with Klinger paint, and our parking lot is right across the street from the new library being built. We are all settled into are downtown location and are organized. We now have items separated out into categories such as electrical, lighting, trim, outdoor, and more. The ReStore also is into Pinterest now. Pinterest is a website for crafty people to get on to share ideas for projects and creative reuse items. The ReStore carries a lot of the things that are featured on Pinterest. We have a group of people come in once a month to work on their projects and share idea’s with each other. We also have other opportunities to use the ReStore’s resources. We have a “living room” space that you can host meetings in for free! We also are able to host scout groups or birthday parties, just call for details.

Just remember that every time you shop, we build. For more information, contact ReStore by phone at (319) 294-1500 or visit www.cvhabitat.org/restore.