Historic City of Jefferson's Reclaim store is back up and running with plenty of unique items for shoppers to purchase.
The goal of the store is to give people the opportunity to buy and use historic architectural salvage from landfills. The store began following 2019's devastating tornado, which damaged hundreds of buildings -- including the site of the store, which HCJ had closed on just three months prior.
HCJ Executive Director Anne Green said the hope was to give these displaced pieces of history a new home.
"Our goal with this with reclaimed is not to have materials sit here on our shelves for months and months in order to make an extra 20 bucks off of them," Green said. "We're trying to price them below market value, so that way people of all economic walks of life can get these materials in and start using them again. Whether they're used on historic rehabs, or if you're a really creative person and need a mirror for a craft project or a DIY project, we just want to see these items being reused because we love them."
HCJ received a $10,000 grant from the Mid-Missouri Solid Waste Management District. Those funds went toward renovations and a new point-of-sales system, but it also allows the group to go into the eight surrounding counties and salvage materials, expanding the project's scope as Jefferson City recovers from the storm.
"There's just a lot of stories that go along with this too, which is part of the interesting part of doing all of this," said HCJ President Donna Deetz, revealing the group would be taking materials from the an old brick factory in Mexico, Missouri. "We're going to be doing some things up there very, very, very short time."
The store also celebrated its relaunch with a rummage sale Saturday, with members donating items for the event.
The Reclaim Store is located at 601 E. High St. It will be open from 9 a.m.-noon on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, as well as by appointment.
Know of any business happenings around Jefferson City? Let us know at [email protected] or 573-761-0243.