WINONA LAKE - Inside the Carpet Depot Interiors building, 25 Kings Hwy., Winona Lake, it’s like a mini shopping mall.
Along with Carpet Depot, there’s Bailey’s Studio, Lacie Fouts Photography, Whittenberger-Fouts Insurance, Stryker Lawn Service, Adventure Co. Travel Agency, Three Crowns Coffee and The Word House bookstore, with a little room left over.
Thursday afternoon, the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting for the newly renovated building - named Winona Live - and all of the businesses within it. A grand opening celebration is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Judy Ness, owner of Carpet Depot Interiors, explained, “My husband (Erik) and I have owned Carpet Depot, and Carpet Depot has pretty much consumed the majority of the building. Just recently, we have moved Carpet Depot into the center section here, and we have brought in a coffee shop, a bookstore, a photography studio. There’s a hair salon. An insurance agency. A landscape company and a travel agency. All within this building.”
She said they still have a little space left, though not a whole lot. The building is over 10,000 square feet.
“We had a lot of space, and I wanted to utilize the space, and I love the community that all the businesses bring together, and everybody just works so well together, and I love it. I love this atmosphere,” Ness said on why they decided to bring all the businesses under one roof.
The Three Crowns Coffee inside Winona Live is the coffee shop’s second location, with its first being on North Detroit Street. Most of the other businesses, Ness said, moved into the building from other locations. Carpet Depot has been in the building for going on 28 years, while Bailey’s Studio has been in the building for over a decade. The other businesses have opened in Winona Live over the last four to six weeks.
The businesses keep their own open hours so they may not all open and close at the same time.
“We’re open a lot of the time the same time frame - like the coffee shop opens at 7, I come in usually around 7:30. I close at 5:30, they close at 3. The bookstore closes at 6. So, there’s a variety of hours for the different businesses,” Ness said, adding that she thinks the bookstore and coffee shop may be working on coordinating their hours so they’re closer to Ness’s hours at the Carpet Depot.
At Saturday’s grand opening, Ness said they will have food trucks, drawings, a remote broadcast from the radio station, a photo background and a coloring contest for the kids.
“Bring the entire family!” she stated. “... We’d love to see everybody come out, enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy the views that we have here and share in the community.”
Ness said not only are the views of the lake awesome, but the location of the business has been wonderful for them.
The building itself has been renovated.
“Interior, we have renovated, freshened things up a little bit with the process of the new businesses coming in, and we have more to come,” Ness said, then pointing toward a wall that will be removed so Carpet Depot can be expanded after the grand opening and “things calm down a little bit.”
As to why the building is called Winona Live, she explained, “I love the community. My son lived in Austin, Texas, and my younger son and I went to visit. While we were there, we visited the AT&T stadium, and in front of that stadium - if you’ve ever been there - is a place called Texas Live. And inside that building are multiple businesses, and especially restaurants, and we spent a lot of time there and just enjoyed it. So, when I thought about the name for the building here, I’m like, ‘Winona Live!’”
Winona Live has a new Facebook page for more information. Ness’s cell phone number is 574-551-3190. The Carpet Depot website can be found at www.carpetdepotinteriors.com.