Doing a little remodeling? Massive new JoCo ReStore will be filled with treasures

The new ReStore, opening Nov. 13 in Lenexa, will be as big as it gets in this area – and a statement to the future of this unique nonprofit business.

“We could not be more excited about opening in Lenexa,” said Tom Ryan, director of Habitat for Humanity of Kansas City’s ReStore. “Knowing that is our biggest store to date and knowing what that will do to help our mission is thrilling.”

Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores are home improvement stores and donation centers. They sell new and gently used furniture, appliances, homes goods and building materials.

The new Lenexa store is located in a former distribution center at 9605 Dice Lane. At 56,000 square feet, the Lenexa location will be the largest ReStore in the Kansas City area.

While the Lenexa store is ReStore’s newest venture, the concept has been around Kansas City for more than two decades beginning with a location in Kansas City’s East Bottoms area at 4701 Deramus Ave.

The other ReStores are located at 8722 Santa Fe, Overland Park; 13531 Wyandotte St., Kansas City; and 8516 N. Oak Trafficway, Kansas City.

“At one time we also had ReStores in Merriam and Waldo,” Ryan said. “For us to grow and have more impact in our community, we made the decision to close a few of those smaller stores and move into our store on Wyandotte Street.”

Donations have also changed over the years.

“Early on, the vast majority of our donations came from homeowners,” Ryan said. “When a homeowner decides to remodel a kitchen or bath, rather than taking their old items to a landfill, you bring them to a ReStore. We clean them up and price them so they can find a new home and save another homeowner a lot of money.”

When ReStore began reaching out to businesses, larger stores were needed.

“Now, a large part of our donations come from these businesses and the majority of those items are brand new,” Ryan said. “We are able to offer these to our customers at a significant savings. And big is better for those donations.”

In fact, Lenexa will join the Deramus Aveue and Wyandotte Street locations in being able to accept large semi-trailers of donations from businesses.

The Lenexa store will also have a logistics department, said Carrie Wilson, ReStore’s director of marketing and communications.

Right now, the only logistics department is on Deramus.

“All trucks are leaving from there,” Wilson said. ”Now there will be two logistics locations to accept donations and redistribute them. It will be a hub to distribute to other ReStores.”

Wilson said ReStore works to make large stores like Lenexa attractive to customers with attractive signage and placement of items.

ReStore has gotten a boost in business because of the pandemic.

“The supply chain issues that are currently affecting so many items have encouraged many people to shop at ReStore and they can take their finds home the same day,” Ryan said.

Ryan said the atmosphere created by staff and volunteers makes a big difference.

“Our shoppers love to come in and see what incredible finds they can come across,” he said. “It really is true that you never know what you will find.

“We run with a limited staff, but we have a great group of friendly associates, cashiers and receiving staff that make shopping a pleasure.”

And the stores depend on volunteers.

“We not only have individuals that help us by volunteering, but also large groups from schools, businesses, churches, and every other type of organization,” Ryan said. “These groups help us so much and I know our staff and customers enjoy the energy they bring.”