The Upstairs Tour

The last blog post mentioned in passing that our newly dedicated office space is upstairs, so it seemed like the perfect time to introduce you to the upstairs and the first surprises we found there.

While the main level served as a grocery store for many years, the upstairs was the local hardware store. Have you guessed what that means? Yep - more gondola shelves! Bart never lets tedious work get in the way of some fun, so he developed a quick method to remove the shelves from the upper level: toss them out the window. Ta-dah! Gone-dola shelves! 

Once things started to clear out, it was easier to take stock of what treasures awaited upstairs. First of all, it was hard to ignore surprise #11: seeing the sky through the wall makes the stabilization of the southeast corner of the building even more of a priority!

Since the upstairs served as a hardware store, there were countless vintage storage bins on the shelves for containing...well, hardware. It was a fun surprise #12 to open one and find it full of corks in various sizes. These will definitely be used in a future project!

The rooms located in the back were used to sell work clothes, so part of clearing out this area was finding a new home for the large clothing racks. We were thrilled to partner with the local Community Closet to give the shelves a new life that continues to serve our town. While clearing out some of the clothing racks in the back corner, these cool metal shelves were found leaning against the wall. Their geometric design/pattern was a lovely surprise #13. They will definitely have a place in the new Mercantile.

Also hidden along the back wall was a small desk. When you’re trying to create a work/office space and you find a desk, it’s just meant to be! And with a fresh coat of paint, surprise #14 fits perfectly in our new office area.

Finally, it took several days of walking through the upstairs before we realized there was a raised section of the floor - almost like a small riser or stage. Surprise #15 is just absolutely perfect for our vision of the upstairs coffee bar. When we started this adventure, one of our driving forces was the desire to keep this building's place in the heart of the Harrisburg community. Part of that future plan includes partnering with the local schools to provide a space where classes can occasionally meet as a special treat. We can already see students taking turns on this raised platform to read a story they wrote, recite a poem, or maybe even perform a solo. We are so excited to partner with teachers and see what kind of magic we can create for students!