Three new businesses open in The Shoppes on Broad

ELYRIA — The energy was high and the lines were long as three new businesses held their grand openings at The Shoppes on Broad on Saturday. Kreations by Kianga, Find It Keep It LLC and Ally Rose Creations held back-to-back-to-back ribbon cuttings joined by Mayor Kevin Brubaker, bringing the total number of businesses in the small, recently redeveloped shopping center to five. The first business in the new shopping mall at 374 Broad Street was Roxy's Emporium, which opened in September. But with the three openings on Saturday, and the opening of Kathy V Designs prior to that, developer Dan Martin said the space is starting to feel as alive as he had first imagined it. "It is a good group (of vendors)," Martin said. "We all get along and kind of mess with each other like a family and it is kind of a dream coming true type of thing… We have been trying to find the right fit of people, what their products are and what they are trying to do. So we are really excited to have it open, the city and the mayor have been incredibly supportive." Kreations by Kianga is a gift and apparel shop owned by Kianga Holland, specializing in clothing and merchandise celebrating Elyria or designed as gifts for specific holidays and occasions. A line stretched from the register to the door of the small storefront for nearly an hour after it opened. Holland and her husband, Carl, opened their first temporary storefront as a pop-up shop in Elyria City Hall last year before being invited to open a permanent location in The Shoppes on Broad. "I am beyond excited," Holland said. "We went back into the pop-up for a bit while we were getting this ready, but having it all done and doing the grand opening today, I literally got overwhelmed because the emotions were too big. I'm so excited to get to be here and to go through this process, but not only that, I have other small business owners around me. We are all networking and helping each other out, which I think is really good, you can't get any better comradery than that." Find It Keep It is a thrift and resale store owned and operated by 23-year-old Ellen Madison. Madison, of Rocky River, had been thrifting for years when she saw a Facebook post about The Shoppes, but she did not have a business and had never attended a festival or event to sell clothes. But, Madison said, she had a passion for reselling and enough belief in herself to reach out to Martin and inquire about a storefront. "At my last job, I wasn't the happiest, so I was kind of over not being in a good space," Madison said. So I was like, I just want to do something for me, and I wanted to turn something that I love into a real store. One day I was scrolling Facebook and I saw a post (about) The Shoppes on Broad, and it said Dan is looking for tenants. So I reached out, I told him my idea, he loved it, and he was like, I have a space for you. That's how we got into the building, and this building has been so amazing." The final business to open on Saturday was Ally Rose Creations, a business which specializes in both crocheted and 3-D printed toys, gifts and animals. Owners Allison Baker and Mike Baker handle the knitting and the 3-D printing, respectively. Allison Baker said that she attended the opening of Roxy's Emporium book store in the Shoppes, and when she saw the storefront that now holds her shop, she asked Martin for a lease straight away. "(Martin) said 'Well do you want to see the inside? I don't really have time right now,' and I said no I don't need to see it, just send me the lease, this is my store" Baker said. "We went back and forth for about three weeks and he thought I was joking, I said no, give me the lease now." Even before she officially received the lease, Baker said she started to repaint the interior of the space, landing on light purple walls which Martin jokingly referred to as "an Easter egg." "Everyone loves the Easter egg store now, and I think it looks great, it's bright," Baker said. "I wanted that old school toy store feel, like you walk in and it's just joyful and whimsical." One of the Baker's favorite touches, and a sight most of the dozens of people in attendance at the ribbon cutting stopped to stare at, is the 3-D printer directly in front of the store front window. All of the new shop owners, as well as Roxy's owner Deborah Born, said that they felt a close and immediate connection to their fellow shop owners. "Having the other shops in here has been such a blessing," Madison said. "We are all uplifting each other and supporting each other, it makes it a little bit less terrifying. We have been shoulder to shoulder the last couple weeks, so we have all gotten to know each other very well." In addition to each store bringing in its own unique foot traffic, the business owners have offered each other tips, emotional support and time to help with setup. In one example, Mike Baker created signs for Find It Keep It and Kathy V Designs, helped Holland hang the sign she had already made and created a temporary "Shoppes on Broad" sign to cover the current sign on the front of the building, which had marked its prior existence as an annex for the Lorain County Board of Commissioners. "As the mayor has said, everybody says that we need more things downtown. Well, I hope they support it," Martin said. "That is the key, people coming down and supporting it. You have Mr. (Kevin) Flannigan's esports arena, and there is already great stuff happening down here. You've got AXS Fitness, Keith's Comics, The Foundry, Erie Island and Mystic Moon. I don't think people realize it but I was here last night, we weren't open, but it was packed with people down here. So I think there is momentum building, and I am happy to be a part of it." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.