From Uptown Somerset to downtown Johnstown and surrounding areas, new small businesses are blooming this spring across the region.
Two new businesses opened on West Main Street in Somerset this month with help from Somerset Inc.’s rent abatement program.
“We are so excited to have two new entrepreneurs provide new products to Somerset,” Somerset Inc. Executive Director Regina Coughenour said. “They are two of the most unique, beautiful stores in Uptown Somerset. You can tell they love what they do, and that is contagious.”
For plant enthusiasts or first-time houseplant buyers, Logan Byers opened Byers Botanicals at 152 W. Main St., Somerset, offering houseplants, accessories, soils and fertilizer. Byers said she also plans to schedule workshops for terrarium building, moss art and plant education.
“We are trying to bring more vibrancy to the community by introducing people to different plants,” she said.
A former restaurant server and personal trainer, Byers decided to open her own business after maternity leave.
“I have flexibility to be with my son more,” she said. “I can take him with me. It has given me a lot of freedom as far as being with him more than if I went back to a traditional job.”
Byers Botanicals also supports other women-owned businesses by carrying their merchandise.
“I’m trying to work with women-owned businesses because I am one,” she said.
“I’m carrying soy candles, beauty products from women- owned businesses.”
A few hundred feet from Byers Botanicals, Erika Taylor opened My Asylum April 12 at 109 W. Main St., Somerset.
The shop includes her workspace and retail store, where she displays her artwork and sells work from other local artists.
Taylor specializes in laser-cutting and engraving bulk items for local business customers and custom gifts for walk-ins.
She said she aims to make her shop a place where people can shop or hang out.
“I hope this encourages people to come and do their drawings here,” she said.
Taylor decided to open the business and end her career as an inspection service contractor for mortgage companies.
“I’ve done that job for 13 years and was tired of the driving,” she said. “On the road, these thoughts would come to my mind about what I could create next, and the last couple years it was planning how to open it up.”
Downtown Johnstown entrepreneur Wesley Ed had a similar epiphany to open The Wolf and Wyvern game and hobby shop while driving home in February from a job interview in Greensburg.
“The interview was for a job I didn’t want to accept, and I thought, ‘I don’t want to work for anybody else,’ ” Ed said.
“I drove by the shop that got me started in miniature gaming, the Toy Soldier Gallery in Ligonier, and thought, ‘That would be fun if I could do that.’ I got home and had a thousand-yard stare, and Maria, my wife, said, ‘OK, what are you thinking?’ ”
The Wolf and Wyvern opened April 12 on the ground floor of 139 Clinton St. in downtown Johnstown.
The shop has games and accessories, tables for rent, and set up a game for a night and private thematic rooms in progress, where Ed plans to institute a “bring your own beer” policy.
“There is a game for everybody,” he said.
“All you have to do is come to a place like this. You might open the door to a hobby you don’t expect. We are in a renaissance of having fun, and realizing there are so many ways to have fun.”
In the past week, Ed said, he has had about 30 customers shop for a specific game, Warhammer, and say the same thing: “I don’t think anyone else plays Warhammer.”
“I said, ‘You guys just don’t know each other,’ ” he said.
The Wolf and Wyvern’s hours of operation are from noon to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 2 to 9 p.m. Fridays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays.
The Bridge and Rising Studio and Lofts photo studio and loft rental is on the second floor of the building at 139 Clinton St., and Trippy Hippy Healing has opened on the third floor.
Bridge Perspective photography and videography business owner Serena Bridges purchased the building in February. A grand opening for her photography studio and an Airbnb apartment on the second floor is scheduled for May, she said.
Another downtown Johns-town business, the Elevate retail clothing company, 517 Main St., opened a second location in Somerset County.
Elevate’s new location at 3006 Somerset Pike opened April 17.
“This store will highlight all-natural products and items that are made out of recycled materials, including vintage clothing, fresh-cut flowers, products made out of organic cotton and hemp,” owner Kristy Hagan said.
“It’s going to be a more natural side of Elevate. The downtown Johnstown store is more hippie and homegrown.”
Hagan opened the Somerset County location as the downtown store has doubled in sales from its first year to its second year and is now going into its third.
“I wanted to service more people in Somerset County,” Hagan said. “It’s just a different population. It’s set in a natural setting with a stream behind it and woods all around and an Airbnb rental property attached.”
In Johnstown’s West Hills suburbs, three young entrepreneurs opened an escape room – Locked In Westmont – in April.
Bill Stasko, Brandon Bloom and Drake Chose opened Locked In Westmont at 1742 Lyter Drive.
With Pizza Man’s Pizza and Westwood Bar and Grill across the street, Stasko said, the escape room is a piece of the puzzle to bringing more people to the area.
“This is something we want to do to help make Westmont better, to generate revenue for the mom-and-pop place around our escape room,” Stasko said.
Stasko said Locked In Westmont adds an entertainment aspect to a business district that could one day look like downtown Ligonier or Bedford.
“People drive from Johns-town to Bedford and Ligonier, but we could have that in Westmont if people put effort behind it,” he said. “Being from Westmont, I just want to see it thrive again.”
The escape room currently has a pirate ship theme, “Black Beard’s Revenge,” Stasko said.
Reservations can be made at Lockedinwestmont.com.
While some businesses are just opening, others have expanded at their current locations or have relocated.
Mohamed Barakat, owner of Gyro Joint, 134 Ohio St., in the Moxham section of Johnstown, added dine-in tables and seating in April.
“A lot of people wanted to sit down and eat,” he said, “so now we have enough room and tables and chairs for people to sit down.”
In Richland Township, Eat & Sleep Latin American Food relocated from The Johnstown Galleria to a new location at 1240 Scalp Ave., Suite 3.
The location along Scalp Avenue has brought new customers, including truckers passing through town who look up “best food in Johnstown,” co-owner Dorcas Rodriguez said.