Raygun to anchor NewBo Station development

CEDAR RAPIDS - Raygun, a Des Moines-based retailer known for its irreverent, snarky slogans on T-shirts and other screen-printed items, will be NewBo Station's anchor tenant.

The company, with locations in Des Moines, Iowa City and Kansas City, will have a two-level, 4,500-square-foot store in the commercial and residential development at Third Street and 10th Avenue SE.

Mike Draper, owner of Raygun, said the NewBo store will open at the end of March with two full-time and seven part-time employees. He said Cedar Rapids has been on the company's radar for a number of years.

'We really like Cedar Rapids because it's more like Des Moines and we're familiar with it,” Draper said. 'We like cities where we feel we can add something to the community and a city that is on its way up.”

Draper said NewBo appealed to him because he was looking for the energy of a neighborhood.

'When I was here last spring, I could tell that people just wanted to be down here,” he said. 'We are kind of late to what has already been done in NewBo, but we hope to validate what's been done for others considering opening a business here.

'It's not just what is happening in this area, but the quality of what's here.”

Raygun has designers and a screen printing operation in Des Moines. Draper said the company strives to get its products from American suppliers.

'Our T-shirts are cut and sewn in California,” he said. 'We get our paper from Wisconsin and any of our paper products that we don't do - like books or postcards - are printed by union labor on the north side of Des Moines and bound on the east side of Des Moines.

'Ninety-five percent of our cash flow for the stores come from American-made products.”

Craig Byers, an owner of NewBo Station, said Raygun will be a good fit for NewBo and NewBo Station.

'It was exactly the kind of store that we were looking for,” Byers said. 'It brings retail to the neighborhood, a component that is needed and people really want to see.”

Byers said NewBo Station will open Feb. 1, when 14 apartments on the upper floors will be ready for occupancy.