Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity Finds New Place to Call Home After Years of Searching

Their search has finally come to an end.

Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity has secured a new location after looking high and low for eight years. To celebrate the future of their newly awaited space in the East Brainerd Mall, at the former JCPenney, they invited guests for wine, appetizers, and a tour to show the community how their support and donations will make a positive impact.

The new facility and ReStore will offer wider hallways, a safer shopping experience, and rooms to share more of the company’s vision and what will continue to come in its future.

As they needed more space to accommodate their large inventory, Lakes Area Habitat Executive Director Kevin Pelkey said there were three main factors that brought them to their new location.

“We are on a primary corridor so people will be able to see we are here, versus discovering us or hearing about us. You’re not going to be able to miss us with the [Highway] 210 corridor,” explained Pelkey. “Second thing that I think is really exciting is that we are absolutely going to solve our parking problem. We’re going to have places for trucks and trailers and all the parking that people want to have. And the third thing is, this is just an incredibly cool space that we’re going to be able to create a singularly interesting and amazing shopping experience in the ReStore world.

And with how far Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity has come, they say it couldn’t be done without a great staff.

“They deserve this opportunity to have a cleaner, bigger, safer workspace, and the community has, you know, donated so many great products, we’ll have a way to display them better,” said Lori Rubin, Lakes Area Habitat’s Resource Development Director. “So, it’s exciting to be part of that and I’m excited to see what that brings.”

You can still drop off donations to their current location near the Crow Wing County Fairgrounds, but starting August 31st they will have officially moved into the East Brainerd Mall.