As one of the five core values, sustainability has been a core component of coworking from the very beginning. Sustainability helps to ensure that coworking communities are better able to support both themselves and the larger community around them over time, rather than relying on outside sources to stay viable.
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One way to ensure that we aren’t using up more resources than needed is to reuse items rather than buying new ones. While many items can be found on classified ad sites like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, searching can quickly become tedious and time-consuming.
Reuse
Fortunately, Fort Collins also counts sustainability as a core value and offers several brick and mortar stores that specialize in rehoming previously loved items, including used bookstores, furniture consignment stores, and a few secondhand cycle shops. Here are a few of our favorites:
Books, Music, and Media
Bizarre Bazaar
1014 S. College Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80524
Bizarre Bazaar, just a few blocks from Old Town Fort Collins, has a delightful collection of used books, music, curios, and vintage audio equipment for sale. Whether you are looking to rehome previously loved items or to find something unique and new-to-you, Bizarre Bazaar is a fantastic first stop.
Friends of the Library
Friends Bookshop, Harmony Library
4616 S. Shields St., Fort Collins, CO 80526
The Nook, Old Town Library
201 Peterson St., Fort Collins, CO 80524
Friends of the Library has been advocating for public libraries since 1939. This passionate volunteer-staffed community has donated over $900,000 to local libraries since 2008. Purchasing used books from Friends of the Library not only prevents a book from ending up in the landfill, but it also contributes to the community, in the form of ongoing educational, cultural, and literacy related events.
Clothing, Furniture, and Household goods
Furniture Consignments by Kristynn
4019 S. Mason St., Units 4 and 5, Fort Collins, CO 80525
This high end consignment store is Fort Collins premier furniture consignment store, earning Readers’ Choice Best of FoCo awards several years in a row. They offer a 7000 sq foot showroom of quality pre-loved furniture and accessories available to buyers looking to furnish their home with exceptional style.
Kathy’s Furniture Etc.
Kathy’s Furniture Etc is another longtime local used furniture store with an eclectic collection of reasonably priced pieces.
Outdoor gear and bicycles
Gearage
142 Remington St., Fort Collins, CO 80524
Locally owned gear, bike, and snow sports shop Gearage is sports enthusiast’s dream. New and used sports gear for camping, cycling, climbing and more is available for just about any budget, right in the heart of Old Town Fort Collins.
Recycled Cycles
4031 S. Mason St., Fort Collins, CO 80525
Recycled Cycles on South Mason is a cornucopia of new and used Earth-friendly bicycles, including adult bikes, kids’ bikes, electric bikes, and vintage cycles. In addition to hundreds of brands and types of bikes, they have experts on hand to help you repair the bike you already have. Stop by and check out their vast selection.
Fort Collins Bike Co-op
1501 N. College Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80524
More than just a spot to find a new (or new-to-you) bike, the Fort Collins Bike Co-op is a wonderful place to connect with your biking community. It’s also the place to go to talk bike repair, learn about the latest bicycle related events, look for your lost bike, or volunteer to help rescue abandoned bikes.
Repair
Another fantastic way to prevent having to buy new things is to extend the life of the things you already have through restoration and repair. Although not all of us have the skills to refresh our older items, there’s almost certainly someone in town who can help with that, including these delightful local businesses.
Clothing
Fort Collins Tailor
2224 S. College Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80525
Not only does Fort Collins Tailor create beautiful, custom-made clothing, but they also use those same spectacular skills to repair or alter clothing that has gotten worn, or no longer fits the same as it did when you first got it.
Seam Reapers
3207 Lymen St., Fort Collins, CO 80526
Seam Reapers provides alterations and repairs on all sorts of clothing, from casual to ornate. In addition, they have an at home fitting service, where they come to you to get the proper measurements.
The Sewing Room
301 E. Swallow Rd., Unit B, Fort Collins, CO 80525
The Sewing Room specializes in adjusting event outfits, the clothes that you wear to weddings, proms, and photo shoots. Stop by and get a written no-obligation estimate on the outfit for your next big day.
Electronics and appliances
CPR Cell Phone Repair
238 E. Harmony Rd., Fort Collins, CO 80525
Before giving up on your misbehaving cell phone or tablet, take it into CPR Cell Phone Repair, where they can breathe new life into your device.
Vacuums R Us
501 Riverside Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80524
You might think Vacuums R Us only fixes vacuums, but you’d be wrong. Their expert technicians fix vacuums cleaners, sewing machines, lamps, and just about any other small appliance that needs repair.
Other Repairs
Retrospect Repairs
448 S. Link Lane, Fort Collins, CO
Retrospect Repairs is a true general repair shop, fixing just about anything that Fort Collins citizens can come up with. They are in the midst of forming a non-profit, designed to bring more repair services to the local community.
Boomer Music
3761 S. Mason St., Fort Collins, CO 80525
The expert technicians handling repairs at Boomer Music are on site five days a week to repair any type of band or orchestra instrument required.
The Sewing Circle
4112 S. College Ave., Suite 112, Fort Collins, CO 80525
The Sewing Circle is a certified dealer of Singer, Husqvarna, Viking, and Pfaff sewing machines. They also do cleanings and tune-ups for all sorts of sewing machines, and provide expert advice on both which type of sewing machine will work best for your situation and how to maintain it so it’ll stay working as long as possible.
This is, by no means, a complete list of local businesses that center around repair, reuse, recycling, and otherwise starving the landfills. Check back next month when we explore how reuse can help provide better accessibility to those in need.
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Penny Leigh Sebring is a Cohere member, experienced freelance writer, neophyte speculative fiction author, founder of Kiki’s Castle Independent Press, LLC, in Fort Collins, CO, and a gatherer of information and imaginary friends.
Illustration by Erone Stuff on Unsplash
Read more about Cohere and sustainability here:
Where to go No-Waste in Fort Collins
*If your goal, like ours, is to create a more sustainable community, these local businesses are a great way to start. In addition, our founder, Angel, is an advisor at start of a new venture in Fort Collins, the (re)Mall, a coordinated physical marketplace centered on repair, reuse, and recycling. Keep watching, we’ll keep you updated!