Flint Hills Breadbasket to move into closing Furniture Warehouse buildings

June 11, 2024
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The Flint Hill Breadbasket has found its new home.

The nonprofit organization that provides food for those in need announced on social media Friday that it has bought two adjacent buildings at 2326 Skyvue Lane and 620 Rosencutter Road and hopes to move in late this year or early next year.

According to the organization’s website, the Breadbasket purchased the $1.74 million buildings with $1.5 million from its savings and contributions from early supporters. It plans to hold a fundraising campaign to collect $2.74 million to cover the rest of the acquisition cost and the $2.5 million remodeling budget.

The Breadbasket hopes to raise those funds through grants, foundations, corporate donations and individual donations.

The buildings currently house Furniture Warehouse, which The Mercury reported last week is planning to close after 41 years of business. The store began selling off its remaining inventory June 6, and second-generation owner Steve Williams said the “quitting business sale” will last approximately 90 days.

The Breadbasket’s website says the new buildings will allow for cold and dry storage, more warehouse space and a expanded capacity for guests.

Breadbasket officials last month said they planned to move their operations but weren’t ready to reveal the new location then. The organization’s website says there is no set date for the relocation yet.

“We’re hoping to move services late 2024/early 2025 after renovations are planned to be finished,” the website says.

The Breadbasket will continue to operate at its current 905 Yuma St. location until it can move. The website says it’s too early to tell whether it will close operations during the moving process.

The Flint Hills Breadbasket, founded in 1982, distributes reliable access to healthy food to address hunger in the Manhattan area thanks to donations from a variety of sources. The city of Manhattan has been a long-standing partner of the organization and helped fund the original building at 905 Yuma St. in 1987 and a warehouse in 2001.

However, Breadbasket personnel say the operation has “exceeded its capacity” because of increased utilization of its services recently. In May 2022, the Breadbasket logged 476 visits, but that ballooned to 1,612 in April 2024. It served 2,384 unique households.

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