A juice bar, Puerto Rican restaurant and pet boutique are the newest winners in Spartanburg’s second annual Main Street Challenge.
The three business concepts were announced as the winners of the challenge last week after a selection committee heard final presentations from five finalists who presented their plans and ideas at a live final event on May 22. Each winner will receive $12,000 in subsidized rent and another $8,000 in in-kind support.
Owners Robin and Michael Snelgrove’s concept, Paisley Paw, will sell healthy treats and upscale accessoriesfor dogs, as well as provide do-it-yourself bathing stations. The Snelgroves have expressedinterest in the competition’s 155 E. Broad St. location, on the ground floor of the Library Commons development.
Tirado’s Empanadas and More, a former winner of the Food Network’s “Food Court Wars,” currently operates at Spartanburg’s WestGate Mall. Owner Patricia Tirado plans to keep that locationopen in addition to her new location downtown. Tirado has already obtained preliminary architecturalplans for the space located at 119 N. Church St., next to The Growler Haus.
Emily Wood’s concept, the Health in Hand Juice Bar, will provide juices, smoothies and other healthy foods and snacks. Wood has not yet identified a location.
Nearly 40 initial applicants entered the 2014 Main Street Challenge in January. That initial pool was whittled down to 15 semifinalists, who had to submit formal business plans to the selection committee who then narrowed the selection to five finalists.
Looking for a creative way to fill empty storefronts downtown, the city announced the first challenge in December 2012 and attracted 58 proposals for retail businesses. The three 2013 winners – Haute Mama, Local Hiker and Motte & Son – also each received $12,000 in subsidized rent and another $8,000 in in-kind support and services such as legal advice, printing and accounting services.
The Local Hiker and Haute Mama opened in the fall of 2013 on East Main Street, and Motte & Sons expects to open soon on Daniel Morgan Avenue.
Patty Bock, Spartanburg’s economic director, said the turnout for the first challenge last year exceeded all expectations and hopes for the same with this new challenge. “It created new stores. It created new jobs and it created growth,” said Bock.
This year, 12 downtown retail locations were identified and the challenge was expanded to more locations off of Main Street including Broad, Church and Dunbar streets. Lease spaces ranged from 865 square feet to almost 10,000 square feet.
The three winners will be required to open their businesses in one of those locations no later than Nov. 1, 2014, and must sign a three-year lease.
