The Place Studio and Gallery will soon be in a new place.
At the end of August, owner Christa Zuber is moving her art-making studio from Main Street to the Concord Community Arts Center. Despite help from her landlord and loyal customers, she cited high downtown rent as one of the reasons for the change.
“I think people really like The Place, and they really want it to be around, but it’s still not making ends meet when it comes to being financially sustainable,” Zuber said.
In the two years since Zuber opened, she has not been shy about the challenges of running her shop. Last year, she penned a plea on the business’s Facebook page, telling her followers The Place was in danger of closing.
“Do we keep pouring everything we have into it with the hope that you’ll be in soon? Sure, WE love it and we love our customers (who have become friends), but that’s not paying the bills,” Zuber wrote in the post. “So we are asking you . . . will you pledge to come into the Place soon? Will you tell us that we’re on the right track and we just need to figure out how to stick it out a little bit longer?”
While emotional and verbal support rolled in, Zuber said the studio’s revenue remained stagnant. Her landlord, Mark Ciborowski, gave her discounted rent. She changed fees and hours. Right now, she’s working three extra jobs – teaching art in Manchester and Concord schools, as well as running summer camps.
So she approached the Concord Community Art Center, which opened in the former Rumford School.
“I really think that The Place will be an awesome fit,” property manager Susan Bedard said. “It’ll increase business for everyone at the center.”
The arts center also opened about two years ago. The owner, Manchester-based developer Brian Thibeault, envisioned an artist hub and incubator, but the concept initially struggled to take hold. However, Bedard said now 15 businesses are renting classrooms in the building, and two more are using space periodically, and only five studios are still available. Tenants include a day care, a fitness center, children’s music classes, a graphic designer and other professionals; Bedard estimated about 80 percent work in the arts.
“She’ll have very good exposure,” Bedard said of Zuber.
And she’ll have very good rent. Zuber said the monthly fee is three times less than her Main Street lease.
“Maybe I don’t have to work three jobs to keep this running,” Zuber said. “I know relief is out there.”
At the arts center, The Place will be reborn in a second-floor studio. Zuber said she is trying to shift her focus from individual events to serial classes, like an eight-week drawing class she’s running in the fall. She’ll teach other courses on zentangle and painting as well.
“We have a great community of people, but we see them once every three months,” she said. “We’re hoping to get people to commit to coming in once a week to take a class.”
Elsewhere on Main Street, another art-making business needed to make changes to draw in more customer. Cork & Canvas at 84 N. Main St. initially charged $35 for a seat in the paint-and-sip studio. But owner Melissa Caro said she has dropped those rates since opening last year; she’s also been booking more private events.
“We just wanted to make it more affordable,” she said. “We found that’s turned out very well.”
Caro and her husband also have a second location in their home state of New Jersey, which she said is a busier shop.
“We’re blessed to have that location,” she said.
Zuber said she will miss Main Street, and her landlord, Ciborowski, said he hopes she returns to the Concord’s main drag someday. She wasn’t sure how much downtown construction affected her business, but she did know a free parking lot will be a welcome change.
“People who come to The Place spend hours,” she said. “I always have people running outside trying to catch their car, trying to not get ticketed. It doesn’t help the relaxing part of art making.”
The Place will open at the Concord Community Arts Center on Sept. 1. Zuber encouraged customers to shop her sale in the last two weeks of August and help the business cover its moving costs. More information about the business and new classes can be found at The Place Studio & Gallery Facebook page.
Fayette Street to close
This week’s construction on Main Street will shut down Fayette Street during work hours, according to an email update from the project PR team.
Local traffic will be able to access nearby parking, including the public lot next to the former New Hampshire Employment Security building and the private Concord Food Cooperative lot.
On Monday, the pavement between Pleasant and Fayette Streets will be removed. Once the street is regraded, a fresh layer of asphalt will be added Friday.
Unitil will be on site to prepare for burying utility lines later this summer. Severino Trucking Co. crews will be working Saturday to install bases for street light poles.
For more information or to sign up for regular email udpates about construction, visit concordmainstreetproject.com.
(Megan Doyle can be reached at 369-3321, mdoyle@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @megan_e_doyle.)