Ellicott City business owners are working hard to open up for holiday season. At least a dozen stores have opened recently or plan to open in the next week.
"We're working hard to get everything perfect," Jeff Braswell said.
He's putting the finishing touches on a dream he's been working on for years.
"The two floods did set us back, but we are ready to go. We think it's a huge staple for the town," Braswell said.
He plans to open Jaxon Edwin, a barber shop, men's boutique and nitro cold brew lounge Black Friday.
"How many times do you come down here and see all the men holding purses outside the ladies shops? Well now they have a place to go," Braswell said
It's one of quite a few new shops in the historic town. While Shelley Sharkey's main business, Miss FIT, is getting rebuilt, she's trying her hand at retail.
"We are going to have ornaments, decor, leggins," Sharkey said. "Just to keep things festive and the holiday magic going."
Her pop-up holiday shop 'A Very Merry Main Street' is opening any day now. Down the street, Discoveris, the Gift Shop at EC Pops and Maxine's are all reopened and many, like Paula Dwyer's Georgia Grace Cafe, have already been open for a few months. She says as the uncertainty continues about the future of flood mitigation, the town is more than ready to move forward.
"We do care what happens and we are very involved and we are very opinionated about happens. We want people to be safe and we want things to happen quickly in the mitigation process. We are strong group of people but nothing is going to stop us from doing what we love and what we care about and we need to make a living, so we just put our heads down and we get busy and we get it down and we're waiting for the county to do that same thing," Dwyer said.
Businesses open:
A Journey from Junk
Artists' Gallery
Antique Depot
Attic Antiques N Things
Ballet Conservatoire XIV
be ble nds
B&O Ellicott City Station Museum
Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum
Bill Knapp Arts
Classic Interiors
ClayGround Studio & Gallery
Clipper's Canine Cafe
Cycle Mill
Discoveries
EC Rising
Ellicott City Colored School
Ellicott Mills Brewing Co
Envy Salon
Erin E. Devlin & Co.
Georgia Grace Cafe
Ghost Town Odditorium
Gloss Hair Studio
The Gift Shop at EC Pops
Gramp's Attic Books
Great Panes
Happy Feet
Hi Ho Silver
Jack of Arts
Judge's Bench Pub
Lamp & Gift
La Palapa Grill and Cantina
Little Market Cafe
Made on Main
Main St Oriental Rugs
Main St Yoga
Manor Hill Tavern
Mat About You Framing & Gallery
Match Time Cafe
Maxine's Antiques & Collectibles
Mt. Ida
Museum of Howard County History
Old Mill Cafe
Ooh La La!
Pam Long Photography
Park Ridge Trading Co.
Patapsco Female Institute
Phoenix Emporium
Primitive Beginnings
Pure Wine Cafe
Retropolitan
Reyes Jewelry Exchange
River House Pizza
Sayre's Eden Boutique
ScoopAHHdeedoo
Shape Shifters Wellness Studio
Sweet Suds
Su Casa
Sunflower Trading Hat Company
Sweet Cascades Chocolatier
Sweet Elizabeth Jane
Syrian Cafe and Gallery
Taylor's Collective: Antiques, Arts, Artisans
Tersiguel's French County Restaurant
Trolley Stop
Wagon Wheel
Wind River Clothing and Gifts
Wine Bin
Women's Healing Center
Coming soon:
Jaxon Edwin
A Very Merry Main Street
