Amy'Ruth Halle tt in the new downtown UPS Store,
which opened last week.
Body and Soul's Dana Suggs has run a Successful
store in the building for 13 years.
AM?^
Building owner Mike Coe also owns Rusty Bumper
Ice Cream.
i i i 11
I ?
Kleur co-owner Molly Grace with some of the wares
her shop offers.
Burke Street Comics' Ryan Lusk recently moved his
shop into the building.
Photos by Ibdd Luck
Michael Berrier owns Old Winston Barber & Style
Co.
UPS Store and others help revive downtown building
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
A UPS Store joined many other new
businesses in a downtown building that's
seen new life recently.
The UPS Store, located at 550 N.
Liberty St, held its ribbon cutting on
Thursday, May 12. The store offers a wide
variety of services, including three-by
five-inch mailboxes that act as legal street
addresses. It also has a full range of print
ing services-that can make everything
from copies to yard signs and banners. In
addition, the store offers notary and pass
port services.
"That's what we have is business serv
ices for small businesses as well as for per
sonal use," said Amy-Ruth Hallett, presi
dent of 2H investments which owns the
store.
This is the third UPS Store owned by
Hallett, who said she had wanted the loca
tion for years because it's located down
town with a visible storefront and parking.
She said the store fills a need for sniall
business services downtown.
The store is located on the other side of
the building that has housed Body and
Soul, located at 545 N. Trade St., for 13
years. Body and Soul, a cultural boutique
and gift shop, was one of the only busi
nesses in the building for years. That
changed after the building was purchased
by Mike Coe in December 2014. He's
developed the building, which he's
dubbed the Trade Street Market, into a
place that now holds a variety of stores
and businesses.
Coe, who owns several near-by build
ings, said he'd been trying to buy the
building for ten years.
He said it was a good building for
multi-purpose use in the Arts District with
a 28-space parking lot, which he said was
like "liquid gold" in downtown. He said
the building's been going "straight forward
up" since new businesses started moving
in and expects to have similar success in
the buildings next to it on Liberty Street.
"It's jumping right now in the Arts
District," said Coe.
Dana Suggs, owner of Body And Soul,
said she was glad to have new neighbors.
She said the location has been a great one
for her shop.
"I just loved what I felt on the Trade
Street area," said Suggs. "The energy, the
possibility, the potential, the diversity, the
progressiveness."
When her store first started, there were
several different non-retail tenants in the
building, which eventually grew out of
their spaces and left. She credits her
unique items and atmosphere for her suc
cess, which has involved expanding the
store twice. She said it'll take dedication
from the new shop owners to succeed by
reliably maintaining regular business
hours and being there for coustomers.
Rusty Bumper Ice Cream opened up
on the Trade Street side of the building last
July. The shop, owned by Coe, serves ice
cream, coffee and cake in a 1950s-style
atmosphere complete with images of Elvis
and a checkered floor.
The side of the building that faces
Sixth Street has three businesses on it:
?Kleur- owned by Molly Grace,
Amanda Vaughn Redmon and Emma
Wallace- is a new shop that sells found
and handmade goods created by 49 mak
ers from North Carolina and around the
world. The variety of items include cloth
ing, home decor, art, books, jewelry and
accessories. The shop also regularly holds
arts and crafts workshops. Grace said the
owners chose, their current spot because
the rent is affordable for a beginning busi
ness.
?Burke Street Comics, owned and
operated by Ryan Lusk and his wife Mary
Staley, is a comic shop that opened in
2012 and moved from its former Burke
Street location. The store offers new and
old comics, along with toys and collecta
bles. Lusk has also been selling comics at
Cooks Flea Market since 2006 and holds
the Winston-Salem Comic Con twice a
year at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds.
?Old Winston Barber & Style Co,
owned by Michael Berrier, moved into the
building in November. Berrier, a barber
and stylist who has also been a musician,
has owned a barber shop off and on since
1988. He was invited to relocate by Coe
and said he accepted because he wants to
be part of the Arts District.
Mayor Allen Joines' re-election cam
paign office is also currently located on
the building's third floor.
Coe said he expects Sefior Bravo
Mexican Restaurant to open soon next to
Body and Soul on Trade Street. There's
also a Pulliam's Hot Dogs location that he
expects to open in early July. He said other
tenants in the works include a dentist
office and consignment store. He said he
even plans to have a small gym in the
building for shop owners to use.