Beckley, WV – (WWNR) – It was a grand day on Prince Street in Beckley Friday, as four new businesses held grand openings.
Three of the businesses are located at 223 Prince Street – Creatively Custom Design By Raffinee, Glammed by Lady T, and Z & Z Beauty.
“I decided to open up on Prince Street because there’s a great need of businesses here,” said Angela Bryant, owner of Z & Z Beauty. “You have the Courthouse, the Annex, the Federal Building. So, I’ve learned how to perfect my 15 minute facials, so they can come on over on their lunch break and have a quick facial, or just enjoy some quality time for themselves.”
Z & Z Beauty offers facials, body contouring and eyelash extensions. Glammed by Lady T, owned by LaTonya Hannah, offers a range of hair care products and accessories, including jewelry, hats, totes and seasonal items. Creatively Custom Design By Raffinee, owned by Connie Hairston, offers custom design t-shirts, cups, waist beads and more.
The fourth business is located at 345 Prince Street, in the old Beckley Newspaper Building. Vinyl Tracks offers a large selection of vinyl records, as well as compact discs, cassettes and even 8-track tapes. Owner Clint Blunt had originally planned to open in Hinton, but couldn’t find a space that suited his needs, so he came to Beckley, found a space in the Newspaper Building, and was able to get the store up and running in less than a month.
“Vinyl has grown 60 percent year over year for the past 15 years,” said Blunt. “And actually this year surpassed CD sales for the first time in 30 years. We’ve got jazz, rock country, soundtracks, big bands, Motown, international, a little bit of everything.”
On the other side of the store is a performance space called Side Tracks, where Blunt hopes to feature local bands and performers, and community events.
All four businesses are supported by the WV Hive, where Stephanie Sanders is a Regional Business Advisor.
“I work with them on getting their businesses registered, helping them develop their business plan and helping them gather all the necessary documentation needed to open the business itself. We work with entrepreneurs at whatever level, whatever stage they’re at. That could be them just having the idea for the business, and then trying to put in all the pieces in place to get the business open. They could’ve already been in business and just needed to reach more of their target market. So we can have assisted them at that level as well. So our goal is to try to meet the entrepreneur where they are, and help them from there.”
Sanders hopes that people will visit the new businesses, meet the entrepreneurs and hear their stories, and that more businesses will consider opening up in downtown Beckley.
