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Former South Range High home to mini-business incubator
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Michelle Au and Ed Schaefer Sr. are optimistic that more businesses will move into The North Lima Business Complex. Au is building manager and runs the daily operations at A Crafting Affaire. Schaefer co-owns all three of the former South Range school buildings with John Munroe.
By Ashley Luthern
aluthern@vindy.com
NORTH LIMA
DawN-Elaine Muder began creating scrapbook pages and designing party invitations as a hobby.
She received special orders through word-of-mouth references and eventually outgrew the space in her home. So in July, Muder rented a space in A Crafting Affaire, one of several businesses in the former South Range High School, 11836 South Ave., now The North Lima Business Complex.
“It’s worked well for me. Someone is always here. I work full-time [at another job] but it enabled me to start selling consistently,” she said.
A Crafting Affaire opened in June with six vendors and now has more than 50 who sell a variety of items, including blankets, dried flowers, soap, vinyl record clocks and other handmade crafts, said Michelle Au, building manager.
“We don’t do commission. Vendors only pay for their space, and everything is locally made,” she said.
The goal, Au said, is to give budding entrepreneurs a starting point with a venue that is open every day.
“We want to help them make a go of it,” Au said.
Some vendors only sell in the summer, others in the fall and the constant ebb and flow ensures a wide range of goods for sale, she added.
But A Crafting Affaire is only one business in the complex. There’s also an antique shop, a computer and Web-design business and the Hen House, a commercial kitchen that individuals can use to cook items for sale.
“I didn’t want to see these buildings torn down, and I’m really open to any business,” said Ed Schaefer Sr., who bought the old schools at auction with John Munroe.
The gyms and auditoriums can be rented, and most recently, the gym served as the venue for the Aut Mori Grotto Circus in November, he said.
Schaefer said the circus will return next year and that the gym will be used for Zumba classes in 2012, too.
He said he would like to have a farmer’s market at the North Lima location and possibly a convenience store, as the town currently lacks a drugstore and grocer.
To vendors in A Crafting Affaire and others, the business complex “has been a blessing,” Muder said.
A Crafting Affaire is open every day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., including Christmas Eve “for last-minute shoppers,” Au said.
The store will close Christmas Day and will re-open Jan. 2. The weeklong closure is for vendors to lower their prices for a post-holiday sale, Au said.
For more information about A Crafting Affaire or The North Lima Business Complex, call 330-549-9005.