A commitment to reusing instead of buying new will not only reduce the amount of garbage sent to landfills but may also save you money, contribute to the budding
circular economy, and help others in need.
Questions to Consider
Local Resources: Where to Repair, Rent, and Buy Used
Below are some resources around the LaGrange area that can help residents commit to reusing and repurposing items, as well as buying preowned items. Go Green LaGrange is not endorsing any of the following services, just passing along information on available local resources.
If you know of other local resources, please contact Go Green LaGrange at
[email protected].
Sections
Recently added or updated:
- Pillows-Feather (May, 2024)
- Furniture and Other Household Items – Buy Used: ReStore (June, 2024)
- Furniture and Other Household Items – Buy Used: Maywood Reuse Depot (June, 2024)
- Furniture and Other Household Items – Repair and reupholstering: Technique Leather (June, 2024)
- Building Materials – Maywood Reuse Depot (June, 2024)
- Building Materials – ReStore (June, 2024)
Appliances
Repair services
When home appliances break down, review your warranty, if applicable, and check with the manufacturer. If that route doesn’t help you get the appliance repaired, consider hiring an appliance repair service. There are many that serve the LaGrange area.
Forbes Home offers
some advice on how to pick a service. If you can recommend a local repair service, let Go Green LaGrange know at
[email protected].
If you need a particular part to fix an appliance, consider
CoreCentric Solutions. Call
(866-737-2244) or email (
[email protected]) to see if CoreCentric manufactures the missing part. They may be able rescue that Hoover vacuum or Westinghouse washing machine.
Buy used
You may be able to find a toaster oven, coffee maker, or other small appliance at
Goodwill.
ReStore, which is Habitat for Humanity’s resale store, sells large appliances like stoves and refrigerators. There are locations in
Chicago,
Arlington Heights, and
Elgin. Proceeds help fund Habitat for Humanity’s mission.
Bikes
Repair services
The Wheel Thing, in La Grange Park, and
Terry’s Bicycles, in Countryside, offer bike repair services.
Cycle Brookfield, a nonprofit advocacy group, typically offers an annual bike tune-up event along with regularly scheduled rides and other happenings.
Buy used
Terry’s carries used bikes for sale. You might also try Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, NextDoor, or online police auctions such as
PropertyRoom.com.
See Also:
Recycle for how to donate old bikes to people who need them.
Books, CDs, DVDs, Etc.
Buy used
Locally,
Half Price Books in Countryside and
Goodwill stores in Westchester and Willowbrook carry used books, movies, records, video games, and comics. These stores also have an online presence.
SCARCE, in Addison, also sells used books, records, CDs, and DVDs.
If you are willing to drive further east, you’ll find more used bookstores and record stores in Oak Park and Chicago. One used bookstore is the nonprofit
Open Books, which devotes 100% of proceeds to literacy efforts for children and adults.
Building Materials – Cabinets, Flooring, Bathroom Fixtures, Architectural Artifacts, Etc.
Buy used
Caps and Gowns from LTHS
Each year approximately 1,000 students at LTHS buy a new disposable cap and gown that they either save forever or throw away after graduation. The school doesn't advertise this, but students can wear caps and gowns passed down to them from family, friends, or neighbors who graduated in previous years. Who cares if the color doesn't match perfectly?
The least the school can do is to encourage seniors to save their caps and gowns and pass them on to 9th, 10th, and 11th graders they know. It's a small ask for such a big impact!
Clothing and Jewelry
DIY
The Idea Studio in La Grange offers classes in knitting and crocheting so you can make your own hats, mittens, and sweaters. The store also teaches jewelry making.
Local libraries, including the
Indian Prairie Public Library (Darien) and the
Linda Sokol Francis Brookfield Library, have “Maker Studios” where you can reserve sewing and embroidery machines, as well as take classes on how to hem pants, embroider, and learn other needle crafts.
Free
- For children and expectant mothers:
- Children’s Community Closet of LaGrange Park offers clothing in sizes newborn to 16 years, maternity clothing, and children’s shoes. CCC has ‘Open Hours’ 2 days/month for the public to select FREE clothing and shoes.
You can make the most of the items you choose by donating them back to CCC so that another child may enjoy them. It’s a wonderful way to make the most of an article of clothing. Volunteers are needed weekly to help sort donated items.
If interested in volunteering or have any other questions, please email: [email protected] for more information.
Buy used
- For children:
- For adults:
Goodwill stores in Westchester and Willowbrook
also carry clothes for both adults and children.
Corks
Repurpose
Turn corks into to art. Build yourself a family of critters using corks. Corks, pushpins, straight pins, paperclips,
and scrap paper are all you need to create a cheerful crowd of critters.
See Also:
Recycle natural (not plastic) corks that you don’t need for art projects.
Furniture and Household Items
Repair and reupholstering
Buy used
Knives and Scissors (Sharpening)
You can sharpen knives and scissors yourself with a knife sharpening tool.
Alternatively,
Village True Value Hardware in Western Springs,
John’s Sharpening Service and Cutlery World in Westmont,
and
Repair Cafe in Countryside,
sharpen knives and scissors.
Medical Equipment
If you need and cannot afford medical equipment, check out the
Medical Lending Closet
of Holy Guardian Angels Church (formerly St. Barbara’s) in Brookfield. Sooner or later, everybody has a hip or sports injury and needs help for a while.
Musical Instruments
Repairs, rent, or buy used
Pillows – Feather
Take your feather pillows to
Breen's to be reticked.
Over time, pillows tend to become flat, or lose their bounce. Most people who have allergies tend to think it is the feathers
in the pillow that irritates them, but actually it is this dust. Pillow cleaning and reticking returns the bounce to your pillows.
The process sifts the dust out, cleans the filling and returns the bounce to your pillows.
Designed specifically for pillow renovating, the cleaning process uses an ozone-emitting germicidal light to kill bacteria, sanitize,
and deodorize the filling. The old pillow is cut open and emptied into a tumble chamber
which has rotating brushes that expose everything to the germicidal lights while breaking up clumps that have formed,
fluffs up the down clusters and sifts out the dust that has been trapped in the pillow. With down pillows you can add more feathers
to bring it back to the density of a new pillow. At the end of the cycle the entire filling is blown back into a 100% cotton down proof ticking.
Shoes and Boots
Repairs
Anthony’s Shoe Repair in LaGrange (13 W. Hillgrove;
708-352-7171)
Buy used
See
Clothing and Jewelry above for some possible local resources.
Sports Equipment
Buy used
If your kid needs new hockey skates, soccer cleats, tennis racket, you may find what you need a
Play It Again Sports in Westmont.
Repairs
Home Depot and
Horton’s Ace Hardware repairs lawn mowers, handheld electrical tools, chainsaws, and other tools.
Rent or buy used
- Village True Value Hardware in Western Springs and Hortons Ace Hardware in LaGrange rent carpet cleaners.
-
Some local libraries sponsor a “Library of Things,” or collection of various tools, equipment, as well as games and other items that you can check out. See the Library of Things at Indian Prairie Public Library in Darien and at LaGrange Park Library.
Window Screens and Glass
Seek repairs
Village True Value Hardware in Western Springs and
Horton’s Ace Hardware in LaGrange fixes window screens and windows.
