Midtowne Market To Reopen
Brent Finnegan -- March 10th, 2010
When Midtowne Market closed their doors in January, you could almost hear a collective “nooo” issuing from downtown Harrisonburg. But the convenience store has been sold, and will soon be reopening under new management.
The new owner, Lauren Berry is no stranger to downtown. “I’ve been bartending since I graduated from JMU in 2003, and the long hours and late nights were starting to wear on me,” she wrote in an email. “I was ready to do something different, and being a small business owner was something that I’ve been interested in for awhile. The right opportunity just hadn’t presented itself until now.”
She doesn’t expect much to change when they reopen. “Most of my time will be spent learning how the business operates, regaining the customer base, and getting a feel for what sells in the store, what doesn’t, and what customers are interested in seeing that wasn’t offered before. I’m looking into adding some fresh local produce at some point.”
Lauren hopes to have the door unlocked by April, but the exact date depends on licenses and other paperwork.
“I’ve heard anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months, but I’m really hoping to be able to reopen by the end of the month. I know it’s going to be a lot of hours of work, but [previous owners] Dave and Tim have offered any help and advice they can give me in reopening. We all want the reopening to be as smooth and fast as possible. I’m lucky to have them behind me, supporting me.”
Tags: business, downtown, Harrisonburg
I thought I saw some activity going on over there the other day! Nice it will survive.
So glad to hear! I hope it’s able to re-open before MACRoCK, April 2 & 3, because she will get tons of business that weekend.
YAY!!! Best wishes to her!
Best wishes and great success in your new venture. Love you lots from your Jersey relatives!!!
Best wishes to our niece Lauren on her new venture. We are sure you will be a great success! Congratulations from your Jersey relatives!
Congratulations to Lauren!!! Lucky H’burg…..know that Lauren will add her special touches to bring back Midtowne Market with its history and a bright future.
Wishing Lauren the best success! The Downtown Market is a very worthy endeavor, for all involved.
Congrats and thank you! Quick, cheap lunches are key for me working downtown. Those hot dogs were crucial on a few occasions.
The folks at the bike shop are excited to see the doors open again.
Thank you for taking up the challenge of a running a downtown business.
The key to Midtowne Market success: $1 lunch-time hot dogs or soup.
With your personality and looks I’d be in that store of yours everyday
Wonderful! Best of luck.
Best of luck Lauren!
The Mr. J’s pre-made sandwiches are awesome to grab in a hurry!
Red box.
It will draw customers plus provide additional income.
http://www.redbox.com/Help/B2B.aspx
Someone downtown needs to get a red box.
okay so you wouldn’t get any income for the redbox other than the increase in customer traffic. But it would really suck to have store full of people waiting to use the redbox.
Maybe not such a good idea.
Thank you everyone for all your support!
Great news and best of luck. The note to have more fresh local produce is a great one, and more of this could happen in the store to truly differentiate from other businesses of that kind. In other words, what can make this even MORE different from a typical convenience store? Produce, the unique beers, the pre-made lunches…and maybe some unique papers (a newsstand!), etc. Anyway, best of luck, and just my 2 cents…
About having fresh produce available — I agree. I would love to be able to come by on my way from the parking garage to the office and pick out a lunch-to-go bag consisting of a sandwich, piece of fresh fruit or even a small salad, and a drink for a flat price. If it’s cheaper than downtown restaurant lunches, I’m sure it could bring in regular customers.
It is indeed great news! And, the music selection is awesome! Wishing you much success Lauren.
The ale selection is magnificent. I’ll keep coming back just to see Lauren and pick up a few 6 packs. Way to go Lauren!