“Overall it’s a big win. It’s just a sign of some growth downtown and that we’re going to have to look for some more storefront space to open,” said John Landess, who co-owns the Tuttle Brothers building and works for the Turner Foundation that owns the old Stick and Stone space and new Ash and Mantle location.
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Tuttle Brothers tenant Sibcy Cline will expand its office to fill the space where Champion City Guide and Supply is now, Landess said.
“We’re definitely excited to be moving to North Fountain. If you kind of look at what’s been happening there, downtown has kind of created a little retail, restaurant row,” said Chris Schutte, executive director of the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, which operates the Champion City Guide and Supply store in partnership with the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce.
In the move, some of the artists at Stick and Stone, including Corey White, will remain in the space to sell work with Champion City, which plans to open in mid-February. Others are selling at the Hatch and many vendors will move to Ash and Mantle when it opens Feb. 1. Stick and Stone is closed while the vendors move.
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“It’s a bigger space, it’s a brighter space,” said Rusty Brush owner Kambe Mabry, one of the vendors behind Ash and Mantle. The 3,000 square-foot store also has space for more vendors.
Other vendors opening at the space include Ludic soap by Valarie Rieker, Skin Deeper by Megan Kerby, Blaid Co. by Dustin Rupp, Emmys Herbs by Pat Frock, Nworkman farm & design by Nancy Workman and English Flair by Melissa Asbury. The vendors are both local and from out of state, with more artists in discussions to come to the store, Mabry said.
The name Ash and Mantle resulted from Reiker and Mabry playing around with words. Both chose ash — one to resemble a phoenix rising from the ashes into something stronger and the other to honor the sturdiness of a small ash tree that has survived heavy windstorms and being run over by a truck.
Mantle came from 1800s homes that had mantles in every room made of marble, hard wood or “something that lasts forever,” Mabry said.
“So it’s Ash and Mantle — two things that are sturdy, that can withstand anything and we think that those materials describe products that we use on a daily basis,” she said.
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