Roxy's Emporium becomes first store to open in The Shoppes on Broad

ELYRIA — After years of planning and adjusting, The Shoppes on Broad shopping center is finally accessible to the public with the opening of its first store; Roxy's Emporium. Roxy's owner Deborah Born marked the relocation of her successful store, formerly on Middle Avenue, with a ribbon cutting which drew dozens in the morning and further visitors throughout the day. The business is the first store to open in The Shoppes on Broad, a building owned by businessman Dan Martin which formerly served as an annex building for the Lorain County Board of Commissioners. The building was originally opened as a small shopping mall in the 1970s, and Martin has worked for years to return it to that use. Martin said that the reception Roxy's received on Monday was tremendous, and that five more individuals had contacted him about leasing space in The Shoppes just since the ribbon-cutting. "I am very excited to finally have something open and I am hoping to build off of it," Martin said. "The general feeling from today that walked in and went 'Can I get a space here?' was super encouraging." Opened on the front left corner of the Shoppes, Roxy's Emporium sells used books as well as new books, artwork, jewelry, candles and other craftwork made by locals. Born said that all of the new books which will be featured in the store will be from local authors — "local talent only," as she puts it — and she welcomes other Elyria creatives to contact her about offering other works of theirs for sale there. "I'm trying to have the used books be a way to set the situation up. I'm trying to have something where I can enhance the community," Born said. "It's a place for people who like to create, but you can only hang so much of that stuff or eat so much of that stuff, so you need a place to put it." Born said that she planned to open her store for community events like book clubs, meet the author nights and classes for the sellers in her store to teach how they do their crafts. Asked about the name of her store, Born explained that while her husband was deployed in Iraq in the military he was told not to share details about his family. So she became "Roxy" in his stories. "So he told everyone that his wife was an ex-Vegas showgirl named Roxy," Born said. "And he started addressing my letters and everything that way. I thought that just sounded better than 'Debbie's Bookstore,' it sounded more intriguing to me." Martin said that much as Born sees her own store as an incubator for Elyria creatives, he wants the entire shopping center to be somewhere for local businesses starting out to open and grow. The Shoppes contains 14 individual units including the Emporium, which itself was formerly a small bank in the mall, and Martin said that he hopes to eventually fill all of them with local tenants. "While there's some (businesses) that have been really high quality downtown — Keith's Comics have been there forever, The Foundry's obviously the cornerstone of downtown — there's some things downtown, but I don't think there's anything that's dragging people downtown," Martin said. "I'd like to see The Shoppes become a bit of a destination, so I'm trying to be strategic and intentional about who I let in. Which is why it's kind of been delayed." Martin said he has been looking for businesses which have proven track records of success, both so he trusts they will survive and also because they are more likely to draw in more foot traffic which would provide a boon to the other shops. The next business which Martin said is set to find a home in the shopping center, Kreations by Kianga, certainly fits that bill, Martin said Owned by Kianga Holland, Kreations is a custom gift and apparel shop which has garnered a solid online following and had a successful turn as a pop-up shop in City Hall in the spring and summer of 2024. Mayor Kevin Brubaker said that stories like Holland's were exactly why he had pushed for a space in City Hall to be used for pop-up shops; it serves to build business and provide a practice run for businesses hoping to eventually open brick and mortar locations downtown. Martin said that Holland will receive the keys to her store on Oct. 1. He added that the next business that will join The Shoppes is Mad Viking Donuts, a coffee and pastry shop planned by Elyrian Brandon Rutherford. Brubaker said that the opening of the shopping center is just one of several important developments downtown, pointing to the groundbreaking for the Forge 417 esports arena just across Broad Street which is planned for today at 2 p.m. "It's really exciting to see this come to fruition, with the hard work that Mr. Martin has put in," he said. "Roxy's has a really beautiful facility in there, so we are happy to see that taking off, and then you put that into perspective with the $12 million project that we are going to be doing a groundbreaking on (Tuesday) with Forge 417… it is a great start to the week." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com