The latest reuse store in Gainesville lived up to its name Friday morning at a ribbon cutting, where the “ribbon” was a piece of repurposed caution tape.
A crowd of around 30 people gathered at 10 a.m. for the grand opening of Renovator Reuse, the third reuse location in Gainesville. Located at 2386 NE 18th Terr. — across the street from the Repurpose Project — Renovator Reuse specializes in building and construction materials.
R.D. Bonnaghan is the executive director of Rebuilding Together, a nonprofit that does emergency home repairs for low-income community members. He said his organization has worked with the Repurpose Project for years, donating leftover building materials and shopping for hard-to-find parts.
“It just helps us out by giving us the things that we need to make the repairs that we’re making at our neighbors’ homes,” he said. “And often we have the opportunity to return the favor when we have leftover things.”
Carlos Ariza, a data scientist in Gainesville, came out to the grand opening with his partner, Erica Mollon. He went to support his brother-in-law, who works at the new location. He shops at the Repurpose Project regularly, and likes how cheap the materials are.
“Honestly, save money. Instead of buying new things in Home Depot or Lowe’s, you can buy them here,” he said.
Sarah Goff, the co-founder of the Repurpose Project, was happy with the turnout.
“I’m extremely excited. This dream to expand, it’s just been happening more rapidly than I expected,” she said, but added that despite the new 3000-square-foot location, they still have too many materials to house everything. The plan is to eventually build a bigger warehouse for all of their donated items.
“We just wanted to get established and show that it could work, and hopefully move into a much larger facility in the next couple years,” she said.
The new store will be open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m.