Entrepreneurs find niche in small, local downtowns

Jim Seaman is just one of many entrepreneurs zeroing in on — and filling — particular niche markets in the region.

He’s also among those choosing to open in downtown business districts, sometimes filling otherwise empty buildings.

After earlier operating a coffee shop in Lock Haven and a recent career as a technical writer, Seaman felt a tug to open his own business closer to home.

He and his wife, Emily, first moved to Belle Vernon, converting a garage into a roastery and selling coffee at fairs and festivals. Then he took his coffee cart to a makers’ mart at West Overton Village in East Huntingdon.

“The reception was really good, and I missed home. I thought, ‘I bet a coffee shop would do well here,’ ” the Scottdale native says.

His family soon moved into a home in Scottdale and he began renovating the Pittsburgh Street storefront formerly housing Collections by Marty.

“You’re always nervous, bringing something like craft coffee to a small town,” he says.

“We thought, ‘Are we going to risk it or not?’ I thought it was worthwhile. The building is gorgeous. If it would have sat empty, that would have been so sad. The building deserved to have something in it,” Seaman says.

He opened Scratch Living Roastery and Cafe on Dec. 26.

A place to unwind

“I wanted a place for people to hang out. I remember what it was like to be 16 in this town,” Seaman says.

He offers a cozy space for customers to enjoy cafe-style food and baked goods. It’s helping him gain ground in the small downtown.

“The community response has been phenomenal,” Seaman says.

Like many business operators, he uses social media to attract customers and gain feedback. He’s tweaking his hours of operation and is open evenings for special events and private parties.

“We’re here and we’re new. It’s a matter of finding out what appeals to people,” Seaman says.

Also, willing to educate others, he advises aficionados to buy their own grinders. Coffee in a container is already stale, he says.

What’s old is new

Jan Smartnick and her sisters spent many a birthday or other celebration checking out little shops and restaurants near their Greensburg home.

A friend christened her “Janford” after the 1970s television show “Sanford & Son.”

“They were junk collectors,” Smartnick says, laughing.

What Smartnick sells is less junk and more collectors’ items at her Janford & Son Emporium, in the rear of the VFW building, 418 W. Main St., Mt. Pleasant.

Smartnick leases the lower level and rents space to more than 50 vendors. She oversees sales of their items, from handmade jewelry, purses and woodwork to vintage clothing, tools, toys, antiques and record albums.

Her mother grew up in the Standard Shaft section of Mt. Pleasant and her father worked for L.E. Smith Glass, she says.

She still sells glassware the family collected over the years.

Smartnick is familiar with the community from having formerly worked for a friend’s business in the borough, and having been a vendor when the former Saturday’s Treasures operated upstairs at the VFW.

“I always liked going to it. I got a booth, and five months later it closed,” the Hempfield resident says.

She decided to step in and continue the business, opening in September 2018.

“A lot of vendors followed me. I’m loving it so far,” Smartnick says.

Patricia Wolfe of Mt. Pleasant Township is one of those vendors. She finds items to sell at auctions and estate sales, including from the popular Westmoreland Glass Co., originally manufactured in Jeannette.

“ You wouldn’t believe how many people come in and ask if there are any (other) antique stores nearby,” Smartnick says.

Brick and mortar boost boutique shopping

Robyn Tedesco purchased The Line Boutique on Irwin’s Third Street just a few years ago. On Feb. 1, she opened in a more visible, spacious storefront at 401 Main St.

“Downtown Irwin is such a vibrant community. More and more businesses are looking to move in. When I relocated, numerous people reached out to me about taking over (her former) space,” she says.

Shoppers who visit the business district spread the word, Tedesco says.

“We offer unique things. That’s really my goal. Patrons have the opportunity to purchase things they can’t get at malls or larger stores,” she says.

Additionally, small-town merchants like herself often provide more one-on-one interaction, Tedesco says: “We tell stories of products we carry, and the wonderful vendors we have.”

Community leaders offer holiday and other events that, Tedesco says, help support “foot and consumer traffic.”

Her new location is not far from the Wight Elephant Boutique at 300 Main St. President/co-founder Victoria Piekut opened a second location in October at 136 S. Pennsylvania Ave. in downtown Greensburg. “Obviously, we both have successful businesses. I think we offer different things. There might be some overlap, but if you do what you do well, people will shop at your store,” Tedesco says.

After operating online with occasional pop-ups for 18 months, Piekut says she was ready to invest in a permanent location in her Irwin hometown.

“After a year, we found the need to expand our original storefront and knew that a large percentage of our customers were from the Greensburg area,” she says. “We are thrilled with the response from the Greensburg customers as well, and have clients that travel from out of state to visit both locations.”

Weekly customer emails and multiple daily social media updates — along with events such as Galentine’s Day and “good old-fashioned customer service” — build and keep clientele, she says.

“I think in this day and age, people are a bit tired of the malls and, while online shopping is convenient, it’s not an experience. We have managed to combine and offer the best of all of those worlds,” Piekut says.

After operating a boutique out of her home and establishing an online following, Melanie Nuttall opened a storefront for her NUTThouse Boutique at 2785 Leechburg Road in Lower Burrell in March. The shop previously was home to a formal wear shop and, later, to a pool supply store.

A short distance from her home, the location is a good one for the mom of three.

“I was born and raised around here. I picked the area. I knew it needed something,” she says.

While big-box stores have vanished from many small towns, shops also have shuttered at nearby Pittsburgh Mills mall, Nuttall notes.

“I wasn’t sure how it would evolve,” she says.

Following a “super-busy” first year, she’s seen an “explosion” in business since Black Friday.

Long-distance and local shoppers can tune in each week for her Facebook Live fashion shows, when new merchandise is modeled.

“People are so happy to have something local again, to go and try clothes on again and touch and feel them,” Nuttall says.