Haberdashery set to open in downtown Lorain

LORAIN — When Kurt and Page Hernon opened Speak of the Devil cocktail lounge on Lorain's West Fifth Street in 2017, the couple were on an island. At the time, there were few other storefronts or restaurants downtown; the streetscape had not happened yet, nor had the renovations to the hulking Broadway Hotel. But the Hernons saw potential in the downtown and poured time, money and crafted drinks into their space and the community around it, including kickstarting the city's Main Street. Now, the Hernons' island is expanding in population and footprint. Earlier this year, the couple purchased the building next to them — formerly owned by the Esser family of local plumbing and heating fame. It was an idea that began as a joke, Kurt Hernon said. "There's a 2,000-square-foot garage on the back of this place, and I'd see it and was always like 'that's where our music venue should be," Hernon said. The joke became a reality when a man from Esser Plumbing contacted him about the building going up for sale. "They took our offer — it just makes sense for us," Hernon said. "The timing was good in terms of a lot of things for us and where we're at in life." People are coming to Lorain to set up shop, sometimes — like Erik and Amy Anderson — leaving one isle for another. "We're like the original pioneers," Erik Anderson said of downtown Sandusky where he opened his clothing store 18 years ago. "When I opened my shop up, there was nothing. So we've seen it all, the ins and the outs and we just kind of felt like we were an island there because the things we were interested in — the fine arts, small business (and) the creativity aspect of that, we just felt that those were overshadowed." Nearly 40 years ago, fine artist Erik Anderson walked into a haberdashery and fell in love with the art of dressing well and sharing the skill with others. When all other options folded or moved away, he eventually opened Erik's Fine Clothing & Art. Thirty-odd years later, he fell in love again and married Amy in Lorain's Speak of the Devil lounge — a place that had become a home away from home for the pair. This summer, when Kurt Hernon heard the Andersons were looking at storefronts in Lorain, he knew he had a space they would adore. The Andersons had viewed the former Lorain Arts Council building, but felt it was far too big for what they wanted to do. When they sat down at Speak of the Devil for a drink, Hernon told them the good news. "He's like you've got to go in there," Amy Anderson said. "... It was insane, it was so wild (to see both properties) on the same day. And we had been looking for a couple years, and we had looked at some other spaces … but it was just all at once." While Erik Anderson stocks Pendleton sweaters, suitcoats, jeans, fragrances, home goods — and at his wife's behest, a curated amount of Pendleton's women's wear — Amy Anderson will move her graphic design and social media marketing business, Aha Creative, to the International City as well. "I can work from anywhere, which is great," she said. "I have clients all over the place, all over the country, but I started my business in Sandusky, too, and then I also owned two-and-a-half art galleries." The "half" of an art gallery, she explained, as a six-month pop-up she did before the pair decided to move from one lakefront community to another. "I love Erik's art too, which is fun … My side gig is I'm a vinyl DJ," she said of the interest-turned-business venture that started when she spun on her 50th birthday at Speak of the Devil. "... It's so much fun. It's my fun, away from my computer thing. It's my analog love." Eventually, their store's deep teal walls will be covered in art and vinyl records will be on display, physically and audibly, in the space. Asked what brought them 30-plus miles east, the Andersons agreed it was the people of Lorain that made them fall in love. "They're creative people, and they're doing everything organically … they're unique small businesses that are passionate about everything that they do, whether it's a coffee house, a book store, a record store, a clothing store, a pizza parlor," Erik Anderson said. "That's how you build a neighborhood and a community." It is a community the couple are excited to be a part of, they said. Erik's Fine Clothing & Art will open early next month at 203 W. Fifth St. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.