Holy Guacamole

By Sandra Tunnell

Well, holy guacamole.  We had been pretty busy with events up here this weekend (thanks to all you who came up to visit this weekend- we saw a bunch of our Mansfield peeps!) and when we got up Monday, we looked around Main Street, and realized we have five, yes FIVE new businesses in downtown!!!  (This being popular thing is fun!  We should have tried it in high school!)

First up, you may have heard that a BREWERY is coming to downtown Ashland!  That’s right; some crazy kids have purchased our beloved Gilbert’s building and are turning part of it into a BREWERY!  (No, we’re not excited or anything.)  They are looking to open at the end of the year, so be prepared to add Ashland onto your “best beer places to visit ever” list.  For those of you who are frequent downtown Ashland shoppers (which is all of you, right?)- don’t worry about our friends at Robin’s Nest, who are currently in the location where the brewery will be housed- they are moving across the street, and Madame Bagnabit's is moving into the open space at the other end of Gilbert’s (No man left behind here.)  (Now, if you want to be super-great supporters of our downtown, you can shop these guys in the next few weeks, so they have less to move.  That would be pretty swell.)

What else have we got?  Well, our friends at Flight Media, the super amazing marketing and design agency of Ashland, have moved downtown!  Josh and his team of gurus can help you with your web presence, your web page, or figuring out how to navigate the web in the first place!  They are super easy to work with and are great collaborators and idea- coming-up-ers (yes, that’s a word).  They are housed above our friends (and members!) at Advantage Marketing, so if you go into their building, you will be overrun with two floors of great ideas and help and resources for making your business thrive!

We are pretty jazzed because another new business in town is Sam Taylor Fine Jewelry!  That’s right, Main Street is home to a jewelry store again, which is so awesome (and so convenient when you want to come home with a sweet bauble for your sweetie.  Or when you have forgotten an important date and need to make someone happy, pronto.) They have great pieces (we did not have our wallet on us when we went to visit them, or there would have been several fewer pieces), estate jewelry, and they do repairs, custom design work, and appraisals!  

But wait, there’s more!!!!  Just a few feet down from Sam Taylor, our friends at Whoopsie Daisy Bowtique are back in Ashland, and are now on Main Street!  Whoopsie Daisy is one of our favorite success stories- they started out on eBay and at craft shows selling some bows, and now have expanded into their third location, where they offer bows, tutus, headbands, embroidery, sassy t-shirts, jewelry, accessories, and parties!  If you do not have a little girl child at home, you may not get what we are talking about here, but if you do, or you know one, or have to shop for one, this is the store to visit.  They make the kind of bows that make the other moms envious, and can outfit your little princess from head to toe!

Who else is coming downtown, you ask?  Um- us!   (Cue the balloon drop.)  That’s right- the Chamber is moving to the Gerald’s building at Main and Union, and we (along with the CVB, Safety Council, SCORE, and some other friends) are coming along, too.  They just took the 50’s aluminum siding off the front of the building and it looks soooo amazing (which we knew it would- duh).  Work is happening there right now as they turn the building into the Ashland Area Business & Visitor Center - a one-stop shop for all of your making-Ashland-the-grooviest–place-ever needs.

Wow, look at what is happening in downtown Ashland!  No, seriously; come look.  Wonder what next week will bring?  Come find out - we’ll see you downtown soon!