Willie Dearing was tired of the beauty supply store options in the area. For years, she noticed that the personable touch that she and other Black women wanted when shopping for wigs and hair products was simply not there.
âThey have everything you would want to look for in a beauty supply store, but they have no personal understanding of what theyâre selling,â Dearing said. âThe people who own the hair stores or sell wigs to Black women, they have cosmetics and things that women wear, but theyâre all men.â
So she began to talk with family and friends about whether they would support a business owned and operated by a Black woman and said she got an overwhelmingly positive response. As a woman in her early 60s, she said she has already had a career and is currently attending Indiana University South Bend and taking poetry classes. But this seemed to be a new adventure and one she increasingly fell in love with.
A locally owned restaurant and distillery in Niles will be undergoing an extensive expansion project thanks in part to a statewide grant.
Iron Shoe Distillery, 3 N. Third St., was one of 21 businesses across Michigan awarded up to $25,000 through the Match on Main grant provided by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Owner Laura Tuthill said the business will use the money to expand the restaurant about 2,000-square feet of space for the kitchen, indoor dining area and to add more outdoor seating that includes a rooftop patio.
âThereâs so many days when we reach our capacity with food orders,â said owner Laura Tuthill. âSo we are excited to essentially double how much food weâre able to make at a given time to better meet the demand.â
It came as a surprise, Pati Quiroz said.
Quiroz, the manager of Fiesta Tapatia in Mishawaka, said a customer came in late last year and asked where they were planning to move considering the recent news.
âI looked at him puzzled, like I had no idea what he was talking about,â Quiroz said.
After confirming with the landlord, the Mexican restaurant operators found out that the building at 119 W. McKinley Highway, where their business called home for 20 years, had been sold.
According to a construction design release filed this month, the lot on the southwest corner of McKinley Highway and Main Street is scheduled to become a 7-11 gas station and convenience store.
âIs it not going to open?â one reader inquired.
Then, as we all know, projects and openings were delayed across the nation because of the pandemic, including the Main Street Mishawaka development. While the âfor leaseâ sign was for the vacant space next to Mission BBQ, it wasnât a far-fetched notion for readers to wonder about the new restaurantâs future.
But its opening day is finally in sight.
The Maryland-based barbecue known for its variety of sauces and tribute to armed services and first responders will open its Mishawaka location at 5230 N. Main St. officially on April 19.
Mission BBQ Director of Operations Richard Callahan said the barbecue business has had an aggressive expansion plan, opening its first 100 locations 10 years after opening its first location on Sept. 11, 2011. The company now has a goal to open 100 business in the next five years and currently has four locations in Indiana, with Mishawaka being its fifth.