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After a move to a bigger location on the North Shore, Habitat for Humanity Kamloops’ ReStore will be hosting its official grand opening this Saturday.
John Stokes, ReStore operations manager, said the event will kick off at noon at the new property — 800 Fortune Dr. — with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“We have a couple of food trucks here, we're gonna have a band. We have Peter Milobar (Kamloops-North Thompson MLA) doing the honours for cutting the ribbon,” Stokes said, adding the grand opening celebration will continue until about 4 p.m.
He said the new ReStore location has had its doors open for nearly two months after a soft opening earlier this spring, as staff adjusted to operating the non-profit in the new space.
“It was a case of moving from our old premises up in Cariboo Place down to here,” Stokes said.
“You know what it's like when you move house, you put everything in the house and then you rearrange it. It’s basically what we spent the last six to eight weeks doing.”
He said while the old location near Aberdeen Mall had a large warehouse area, it had a small selling space. By contrast, the North Shore property — which was formerly PennyPinchers — has a big sales floor and a smaller warehouse.
"There's actually more stuff out on the shop floor for people to choose from,” Stokes said, adding the new location also gives the non-profit more visibility.
“We're in a really great spot. I've been told by the North Shore Business Association at this junction that we're on the busiest junction in Kamloops, so we get plenty of passing traffic and foot traffic for sure,” he said.
Stokes said with a bigger building, Habitat for Humanity Kamloops also felt the need to hire about nine more staff members, nearly doubling their workforce.
He said there are about 20 staff now working out of the North Shore location.
“We've got an army of volunteers as well, we couldn't manage without our volunteers. They are fantastic,” Stokes said.
