Grand opening set for Redkey

The merchants of Redkey are banding together today to celebrate their grand opening for the season.

About 15 businesses are participating in the event, with most shops open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Kathy Bird-Crow, who owns Dynamite’s Antiques and Vintage and is a member of the Redkey Merchant’s Association, said the town decided to have an event to mark the reopening of several shops, along with the addition of several new businesses.

“Most of the shops shut down in the wintertime because there’s no heat, so a lot of them are doing renovations and rearranging,” Bird-Crow said. “About this time of year is when everybody just decides to open back up because heating costs are a little cheaper. But we’ve all been renovating and rearranging and shopping, with new inventory.”

She closed down her antique store earlier this year to work on renovations. Her mother’s store, Creative Furnishings, will be moving into the upstairs space and sharing the building.

Key Diner at Key Palace Theatre reopened in February under new management and with a new cook. The restaurant will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. today. Lil Bistro and Val’s Place are also open.

New businesses celebrating their grand openings today are Light in the Arbor, a therapeutic massage parlor; Everything’s Coming Up Roses — The Cottage, an antique and gift shop; Soaring Hawk, which offers Native American merchandise; and The Blind Tiger Coffeehouse, which is inside The Kindred Spirit, a new age shop.

Other businesses in the area include several more antique shops, a tattoo parlor, beauty salons and a yoga studio.

“When I got here in 2015, which was three years ago, I was the third shop in town,” Bird-Crow said.

The existing businesses decided to band together and advertise the downtown buildings, which were being used as storage places. As more people began setting up their businesses, the word began to spread — and right now there aren’t any storefronts available.

“Currently all of our space is rented out, so we don’t have any new shops available to come in yet until buildings are bought and renovated by new owners,” Bird-Crow said.

Many of the business owners are Redkey residents, but there are several from Jay County at large, and even from out of the area. Bird-Crow’s mom lives in Cowan, and another couple is moving from Fort Wayne to Portland to focus on their Redkey business.

Bird-Crow said she anticipates Redkey’s business scene will continue to grow. In the coming months a new pizza/sub shop will be opening in the town as well.

“I think a lot of people don’t know how much Redkey has popped up in the last three years, and just how many buildings have shops in them now and have been renovated,” Bird-Crow said. “Good things are still to come too, we’re just getting started.”