SALT LAKE CITY — There’s a buzz of activity happening in Salt Lake’s Sugarhouse neighborhood. At 2100 South and 2100 East, several small businesses are about to come together under one roof. Two of these small business owners, Jennifer Williamson of Olia Skin Care and Tiffany Rainwater of The Bean Whole Coffee, couldn’t be more excited to repurpose and re-open a building that has deep roots in the community.
“We feel very honored to be in this building,” say Rainwater. “It's been so many cool things in this neighborhood for a long time. Ponderosa Steakhouse, Dan’s grocery store, a Yoga Studio, Video Verns. When my husband and I first started dating we came here on date night would get a video. So it's special to us too. And we're excited to be the next phase in this unique space.”
The new vision for this familiar spot is to be called ‘The Neighborhood Hive’ and it takes a page out the Food Hall play book. But while a Food Hall only serves food, this will be a one stop shop for many different things.
“The commercial kitchen is going to connect us to the local food scene,” says Williamson. “We picture bread and pastries being made in the morning, you can get one with the coffee that was just brewed. If you hang around for a minute, then you can go back and get your soap or your consumables for the week. This is your local corner. It's going to be an experience. You can come in and spend money, you can come in and not spend money and you're going to walk out feeling great.”
Ultimately, this center looks to bring businesses and people together. Classes will be offered by the various companies regearing their products and each of the small businesses will act as a mentor to one another. And when the Neighborhood Hive finally dose open this fall, the space will encourage more small businesses to join and grow. Rainwater says that working together with other small businesses is what being a small business owner is all about.
“We don't want to have competition we want to have collaboration, and we're all in it together. Let's help each other out, create a cool space and even if you're not a maker or creator, if you're just a consumer... you want to be part of cool stuff too. We want to show our neighborhood, all the neat things that our friends and small businesses doing in our community. So, let's put it in one stop shop, center, and come over and hang out, get some cool see what neat bread is being made and see what awesome so Jen just made and come grab some fresh roasted beans so that's, our goal.”
The Neighborhood Hive hopes to be fully renovated and up and running before the Holiday Season. If you would like more information you can find https://theneighborhoodhive.org.
Also, if you would like a tour or to talk to Jennifer and Tiffany in person, they do a pop-up market in the parking lot of the building every Saturday morning at 2100 South and 2100 East here in Salt Lake City.
