The Tavern Company has a new owner and a new menu.

Chris Armington, who worked for 12 years at Brennan’s Colony as a bartender, server and manager, now owns The Tavern Company, also known as TavCo. “It’s always been a dream of mine to own my own business,” he says.

After signing the papers last November, his dream came true, and in January, Armington introduced a new menu for 2010. “If you’re a bar on Lee Road, you have to have wings and burgers, so we do that. But we also wanted to offer things that are a little more high end, and not be like every other bar on Lee Road.”

Jeff Milchen, cofounder of the American Independent Business Alliance and an international leader in helping communities build vital local economies, is coming to town. He will be conducting "Strength In Numbers," a 2-3 hour workshop for locally-owned businesses, on Thursday, March 25, at 8:30 a.m., at the Lee Road Library..

What should you do if your car won’t start?

Many times a customer will report that the engine cranks but does not turn over.  If all of the usual noises occur when the key is turned, the engine is turning over.  In this case, get the car to a mechanic because there are many factors that can prevent the car from starting.

Jeff Milchen, cofounder and director of the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA.net), will visit the Heights in late March. He will present the AMIBA model of community organizing to promote locally-owned independent businesses the evening of Wednesday, March 24.

He will hold a morning workshop, on Thursday, March 25, to explore, in more detail, the potential of creating an independent business alliance here.

Buddhaful Spin, a new exercise facility in Coventry Village, featuring spinning classes and a yoga studio, held an open house Jan. 2 and 3, to acquaint the public with its signature offering, Spynga.

Owned and operated by Jill Vinci and Carina Adams, the studio is the first liscensed Spyngna facility in the United States, importing the popular exercise routine from Canada.

"Cleveland? Why would I want to move to Cleveland?" This is a very typical reaction when a local company tries to recruit an executive from out of town -- and that is why Cleveland Heights- based Executive Arrangements has been in business for 30 years.

Negative impressions of Northeast Ohio are prevalent, especially if a candidate's exposure to Cleveland has been limited to what he or she has seen on the national news.

More than 100 times a year, Executive Arrangement staffers spend a day with a family considering a move to the area. They provide the family with a personalized tour of the city designed to match their interests and needs, and work to overcome any objections the family might have to moving here.

Local butcher shop Mister Brisket wants to send 100 salamis to the troops on Jan. 5. The store will pick up the tab for the first 20, then it's up to generous folks to pony up and underwrite the rest of the give.

Check out misterbrisket.com for donation information, or call the shop with your credit card, 216-932-8620. One salami is $20. Mr. Brisket will send your salami along with a personal message to serviceman Cormac Chandler, the son of customer Max Chandler, and his Medivac unit in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Through 12/30: Heights Arts Holiday Store, 2173 Lee Road.

12/6: Fair Trade Holiday Sale, 7 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. FREE. John Carroll University.

12/7-12/9:  Open House/Pottery Sale, Cleveland Potter's Co-op, 3175 Kensington Road.

Locally owned Heights merchants have a variety of offerings for even the most extensive gift list. Here are some of the Heights Observer's favorites.

Foodies

Purchase gift certificates to any of your favorite local restaurants. Or go to www.clevelandindependentsdeck.com and purchase The Deck. For $29.95, it looks like a deck of cards and contains 52 $10-off coupons to locally-owned, Northeast Ohio restaurants.

A pan of roasted or barbecued brisket from Mister Brisket. According to the owner, this unique food item is indigenous to our region and in high demand. Each pan feeds 8 to10. (Mister Brisket)

 

After nearly 27 years in Coventry Village, Vidstar Video – the last independent video store in the Heights area  – is closing for good.

Its last day will be Dec. 31, according to owner Les Groynom. Until then he’s liquidating inventory while continuing to rent videos, and he’s thanking long-time customers for going out of their way to support local merchants. The last new release, according to Vidstar’s Facebook fan page, will be The Hangover.

“I’ve rehearsed this answer,” Groynom said, when asked why he decided it was time to close. 

What brings Cavaliers superstar Shaquille O’Neal to the Heights?

Lisa Lansing, the owner of GYROTONIC® Cleveland and Inspiral Motion.

Lansing, a former professional dancer and athlete, opened Inspiral Motion studio at Fairmount Circle in January 2007.

Lansing had been exposed to pre- and post-natal Pilates and yoga while living in Europe. She began teaching out of her home when she moved to Cleveland Heights and had built a following while teaching at the Heights Parent Center and Cleveland Heights Recreation Center.

Cleveland Heights is full of best-kept secrets and Mister Brisket--a purveyor of custom meat, poultry, and seafood on South Taylor Road--pretty much tops the list.

Combine a national cult following for succulent, baked corned beef, with a fairly new retail outlet for some of the best deli sandwiches around, and you’ve got the makings of a local independent business that does more than its fair share to keep the Heights unique and sustainable.

After working for an import grocer on Cleveland’s West Side for 12 years, Abrahem Malkieh decided to open an international market in the eastern suburbs with his brother, Sameh. “Customers driving over from the East Side kept asking, ‘Why don’t you have a store like this closer to us?" Abrahem Malkieh explains. “Now they have their wish!”

Since opening in August, U.S. Jerusalem Imports and Farmers Market has offered products from all over the world. Located in University Corners Plaza at the intersection of Cedar and Taylor roads in University Heights, the store’s broad selection is still growing.

You’ve got to feel for Denise Newman, owner of the Isle of Beads in the historic Heights Rockefeller Building.

 “The bad news is, I have to move.  The good news is, I only have to move four doors down. The bad news is, I have to move a million beads!” she says.

Denise never considered moving her store out of Cleveland Heights. She grew up here and bought her home here with her husband after getting her BFA from Ohio University. She is a supporter of the movement to buy locally, I BUY NEO.

Denise Newman opened Isle of Beads in July of 1991 to celebrate her love for beads.  For nineteen years she has collected and offered for sale extremely beautiful and extraordinary beads and

 

Liquid Planet, a restaurant known for its smoothies and specialty pitas, opened last month at 12413 Cedar Road in the former Vixseboxse space in the Heights Center Building at Cedar Fairmount. Liquid Planet is open seven days a week, Monday through Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Heights location is the resturaunt's third in Northeast Ohio. Others are at 11002 Clifton Blvd. in Cleveland and 224 Crocker Park Blvd. in Westlake.

Visit www.liquid-planet.com for more information.

FutureHeights has formed a partnership with the Council for Smaller Enterprises (COSE) to encourage consumers and business owners to support locally-owned businesses and keep dollars within the Heights community. FutureHeights has promoted shopping at local businesses through its Heights Shops program since 2003.

“One-of-a-kind independent businesses are what give the Heights its unique character," says Deanna Bremer Fisher, executive director of FutureHeights. “Research shows that for every $100 spent at a locally-owned business, $45 goes back into the community, strengthening the tax base. For every $100 spent at a chain store, only $14 comes back. And, nonprofits receive an average of 350 percent more support from local business owners than they do from nonlocally- owned businesses.”

"I come to you with empty hands, I have not weapons, but should I be forced to defend myself, my principles or my honor, should it be a matter of life or death or right or wrong, then here are my weapons, karate, my empty hands."

These words appear on one of the many Hall of Fame plaques earned by Grandmaster Joel Dvorin, owner of Unified Martial Arts Academy on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. 

Unified Martial Arts teaches a combination of tae kwon do, kempo, and judo, with students ranging in

Stylist Bethany McDaniel takes an appointment at the new Super Deluxe Salon, located in the former Salon DM on Lee Road. Hours are T-F 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The upscale salon, co-owned by Fast Eddy's and Crazy Mullets' Ed Maddox and David Bruce, opened in late August and features murals by a local artist.The salon carries Aquage a locally produced hair care line.

The thrice-derailed diner complex at 1975 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights is back on track, scheduled to open around Nov. 1—not as a diner, but as a casual-chic tavern.

Clyde’s Bistro & Barroom, as it will be called, will be run by three generations of the Mart family. This is the 11th restaurant for Clyde Mart, a 30-year restaurant owner whose previous ventures include Mo's Uptown (Pepper Pike), Mo's Downtown (Tower City), Mo’s Primo and, later, Gaylin’s Tavern (Willoughby) , and Vito’s (Aurora).

His daughter, Vivian Gatta, of Cleveland Heights, worked in many of them and will be general manager at Clyde’s. Bryan Oddo, also of Cleveland Heights, is Mart’s grandson and Gatta’s nephew. He will manage front-of-house operations.

Walk through the front doors of Nela Florist on Noble Road and the scent of hundreds of flowers is an instant embrace. Surrounded by green plants and colorful arrangements, customers immediately know that all of their floral needs will be met in this sunlit shop.

Stan Soble, the owner of Nela Florist for 28 years, carefully cultivates the inviting atmosphere in his shop. He said he loves the business and that it keeps him on his toes.

"You never know what’s going to happen—an unexpected wedding or a sudden funeral—you never know what you’ll be dealing with. That’s the part of the business I love. It’s not routine," he explained.

It was January 2007, and I had made a New Year’s resolution to “Keep it in the Heights.” To support the community I have loved since age six, I resolved to focus my purchasing power on the restaurants, shops and galleries of Cleveland Heights.

It was an easy decision –especially on where to have my hair cut and colored. Passionate reviews from my Cleveland Heights friends led me to Laura Jensen Griffith and CUT Hair Studio on Lee Road.

FutureHeights announced the winners of the 2009 Best of the Heights Awards public survey yesterday at a ceremony at Nighttown. More than 730 citizens cast their ballots for their favorite businesses during the summer-long survey. They nominated more than 340 Heights businesses in categories such as Best New Business and Friendliest Staff.

The winners are:

Afr8d ur missing specialz @ ur local hangout? You may be in luck.

Cleveland Heights entrepreneur Dan Murphy has created a way for businesses to integrate cell phone text messaging into their traditional advertising programs.

When Donna Dixon sent her daughter, Denise, and two sons to Sunday school at Hope Lutheran Church years ago, she never imagined she would someday operate a business from that very location.

But one day, while traveling past the Taylor Road church to her mother’s home in University Heights, that daughter (Denise Ford) noticed a sign advertising "five classrooms/offices for rent." Fondly remembering those rooms and mentally connecting them to the expanding home-based business she operated with her mother, Ford suggested to Dixon that they visit the location.  

The match was perfect.

Richard Hollis,  owner of Hollis Automotive on Noble Road, has been working on cars since he was 9 or 10 years old.

“I started in 1949-50,” said Hollis. His mother marched him into a local auto shop and asked the head mechanic, “Why don’t you hire him?"

"OK, we’ll give him a quarter per hour," said the mechanic. "That’s too much," replied Mrs. Hollis. "Give him 10 cents.”

Since then, hard work and fair pricing has defined Hollis’ business philosophy, something this reporter experienced first-hand. Showing up with a coupon Hollis published in the Heights Observer, I received an oil change for less than $20.

Nationally known silhouette artist, Clay Rice, will return to Sunbeam Shop for Children, 3469 Fairmount Blvd., on Oct. 2.

Rice creates a unique portrait of your child in minutes with just a pair of scissors and a small piece of black paper.

The art form of silhouette dates back to the 1700s and has been a traditional memento of childhood for generations. Performance silhouettes are a tradition in Rice's family: his grandfather Carew Rice started teaching him when he was a child.

Myra Orenstein, executive director of the Coventry Village Special Improvement District, resigned from her post effective at the end of July. She had been at the helm of the organization for six years.

"She's had a nice run. We accepted her resignation with regrets," said Michael Peterman, president of the SID. Peterman said that Orenstein had organized the SID and that the street improvements along Coventry were accomplished on her watch.

Bremec on the Heights has installed new landscaping in front of its building on Cedar Road. Is a new sign next?

Voting for the 5th Annual Best of the Heights Awards will close on Monday, August 24. Since 2005, FutureHeights, a nonprofit dedicated to civic engagement and innovative ideas, has conducted this public opinion survey to recognize the unique attributes of locally-owned businesses in Cleveland Heights and University Heights and their contributions to the local economy.

Citizens can vote for their favorite local businesses in 20 award categories. The survey was launched in June and runs through August 24.

FutureHeights will recognize winning merchants of the 5th Annual Best of the Heights Awards at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 14 at Nighttown, 12383 Cedar Road in Cleveland Heights. Everyone is welcome to attend.

The diverse and unique local businesses in the Heights neighborhoods are among the area's greatest assets. Each year FutureHeights, a nonprofit organization dedicated to civic engagement and quality of life, hosts the Best of the Heights Awards to recognize local businesses in several categories.

Eco-conscious businesses in Cleveland Heights may be unaware that the city’s division of refuse and recycling offer free recycling services to commercial properties as part of its recycling initiatives.

Sam Bell is the owner of the Lusty Wrench, a mechanic shop on Lee Road that is committed to eco-conscious car care.

Bell said he paid for a private contractor to collect his recycling until he noticed city recycling bins in the lot behind Seitz-Agin Hardware Store.

“I said gee, why are they getting recycling and I’m paying $250 a month for recycling through a private contractor?" said Bell.

Margaret Mueller was 78, in great health, spending most of her days in front of the computer playing spider solitaire. She  wanted a change. Then one day, on a drive down Larchmere Boulevard, she noticed an abandoned house with tires and other junk scattered across the yard.

“Someone should buy that house and do something with it,” Mueller said to a friend. Three days later the house was hers. At first she had the idea of turning the place into a basic apartment for people. No, too boring. She decided to turn it into a restaurant and Felice was born.

When Stephon Smith completed the auto repair program at Baran Institute of Technology in Connecticut, he came home to the Heights to look for a job. But first, he had to survive a welcome-to-the-real-world internship at Mac’s Marathon on Taylor Road.

"They’re not too tough on me," he said of the guys at Mac’s—a close-knit team of pros who have been helping kids get into the auto repair business for 32 years.

Mac’s is a Cleveland Heights institution, owned by brothers Scott Berman and Ken Block since 1977. They bought it from John "Mac" Maglosky, who had owned it for about 30 years before that.

Members of the 2008-2009 Bridge Builders class completed a Leadership Action Project for FutureHeights in which they conducted a survey aimed at evaluating the organization's offerings for local businesses. Here the team immerses themselves in Cleveland Heights culture by enjoying beet cake at Jimmy O'Neill's Tavern: [back, l to r] Stephen Coates, Lisa Zone,Mike Shafarenko and Stephan Schlegelmilch [front, left to right] Heather Terry, Angela Vodopivec and Rob Bentley.

The Perfectionist: The New and the Nice, a thrift store at 2841 Noble Road, will close its doors permanently on Monday, June 29. 

Owner Marcie Coleman said that the economy was a major factor in the store’s closing. “We don’t have the business, people don’t have any money,” she said.

Coleman is organizing a yard sale on Saturday, July 4 to liquidate the majority of the wares she had in her store.  The sale will be held at Coleman’s residence at 4456 Monticello Blvd. between South Green and Trebisky Roads.

Elisabeth Gevelber is no stranger to business. The single mother started her first business in San Francisco selling men’s clothing when she was just 22.

Years later she opened another business called La Tea Da in Rocky River selling retail and, of course, tea.

“We got a lot of press, it was nice, but the store was just way too busy,” Gevelber said. Her second business lasted less than two years and she decided it was time for a break.

Then, in December 2007, Gevelber shifted her attention toward the Cleveland Heights area and opened her third and current shop, Simply Charming.

Eddie Maddox, owner of Fast Eddie’s Chop Shop and Crazy Mullets on Coventry, is expanding again --this time to Lee Road. He will open Super Deluxe, a high-end salon at 2207 Lee Rd., in the former Salon DM space in June.

The salon will display the work of local artists. He will have 2 manicure and pedicure stations and 7 hair stations. Nancy Duncan, formerly of Salon DM, will stay on.

Have you ever wished on a Tuesday night you could go to the farmers market? How about Thursday or Friday or any day except the day of the market? You are just craving some quality food and something really special.

Well Fresh Fork Market has a solution for that. The Web-based “virtual farmers market” allows consumers to shop online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Fresh Fork, a startup founded last year by four Case Western students, has relationships with over 70 small family producers within 75 miles of Cleveland. The farmers list their products online, add photos and write descriptions. Users can browse through the inventory, ask the farmer questions and even leave feedback.

The diverse and unique local businesses that make each of the Heights neighborhoods are among the area's greatest assets. Each year FutureHeights, a nonprofit organization dedicated to civic engagement and quality of life, hosts the Best of the Heights Awards to recognize local businesses in several categories.

Paysage, 3451 Fairmount Blvd., will host a noon luncheon with interior designer Bunny Williams on May 12. Williams will introduce her BeeLine Home collection, speak about design and sign copies of her book, An Affair With a House. Tickets are $15. Paysage will also host a cocktail party with Williams from 5 to 7 p.m. featuring live jazz, wine tasting by Grotto Wine Bar, 13101 Shaker Square, and an informal fashion show by You Two, 3475 Fairmount Blvd.

In this tough economy, as some businesses struggle and close their doors, others are expanding and trying new things.

Utrecht, an art supplies retailer, is changing locations. The store will move to the vacated Georgio’s Pizza at 2768 Mayfield Road in mid-May. And NEXT, an urban clothing store, is moving into 1796 Coventry Road mid-summer. The Coventry store will be the local retailer’s fifth location.

The Noble Nela Merchant’s Association is hosting its annual summer street festival on Friday, June 5, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the vacant lot at 2228 Noble Road, across from Save-A-Lot.

The highlight of this year’s festival is East Cleveland’s Shaw High School Marching Band, which performed to great acclaim at the Beijing Olympics last summer.

The event will also include appearances by the Rocket Car, Cleveland Bouncers,  Flower the Clown and a Cleveland Heights fire truck. The association will give away sodas and red, white and blue popsicles.

Community organizations are welcome to participate. For more information, contact Marilyn at 216-291-4406 or 216-218-4168.

 

The two Phoenix Coffee Shops in Cleveland Heights are raising money for the Officer Jason D. West Memorial Scholarship Fund. The shops, on Lee and Coventry roads, are selling $2 raffle tickets until the end of May, at which time a drawing will beheld at each store. Winners will receive a Phoenix Coffee travel mug and three months of free coffee. The prize is valued at $150.

Liquid Planet, a restaurant known for its smoothies and specialty pitas, will open in the former Vixseboxse space at the Heights Center Building in the Cedar Fairmount neighborhood. According to building owner Michael Occhinero, the restaurant has signed a lease, has completed demolition and plans to open the summer of 2009. Bob Blatchford Architects are completing the storefront renovation. Plans include  restoring historical details, including reopening the arched clerestory windows, which had been covered over in a previous renovation; making the entryway handicapped accessible and adding a projecting sign like those seen in historic photographs.

You don’t have to travel to Europe, New York or San Francisco to discover fine linens; smashing bedding collections with lively prints, artful florals or geometric prints, or French linen tea towels. Just step into Heights Home Collection in the historic Cedar Fairmount Business District.

Beginning on Monday, April 6, Nighttown will donate $5 from every meal served at the restaurant on the first Monday of each month to Harvest for Hunger and the Cleveland Foodbank. This “Hungry First Monday” promotion will continue throughout the year on the first Monday of every month.

“We are going through extraordinary times and those who have should help out those who have not. Even in this down economy, Nighttown is doing well. Giving up a little of our profit just seems like the right thing to do,” said Brendan Ring, owner of Nighttown, who estimated that the nine-month “Hungry First Monday” promotion could net as much as $15,000 “if people come out in droves,” for the Cleveland Foodbank.

FutureHeights has learned that CertifiChecks, Inc., the company that operated its gift certificate program, is in the process of filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  The Dayton, Ohio firm has ceased operations and will no longer administer gift certificate programs.

FutureHeights had offered the certificates since 2004 as part of its Heights Shops program, which encourages consumers to support locally-owned businesses and strengthen the local economy.  The certificates were sold at the FutureHeights office, the Heights Arts Holiday Gallery store, Zagara’s Marketplace and Mac’s Backs on Coventry and were redeemable at more than 100 businesses in Cleveland Heights.

Revive, an independent boutique offering fair trade products for men, women and children, was recently recognized by Ohio Magazine as “Best Clothing with a Conscience” in its January 2009 issue.

NeuroWave Systems Inc., a spinoff of Cleveland Medical Devices (CleveMed), relocated to the Rockefeller Pointe building at the end of 2008. CleveMed was founded in 1990 to develop innovative biomedical signal processing and instrumentation devices and has since become a leader in miniaturized wireless telemetry, physiological monitoring and rehabilitation devices. Through innovation, CleveMed has developed a growing range of products to address the needs of the medical, research and academic communities.

How often do you reach someone’s voicemail and they promise to get back to you as soon as they’ve completed their last rep? Well that’s the case when you call Mark Katrinak, a certified personal trainer who resides in Cleveland Heights with his wife and three-year-old son.

Every year around the holidays I watch the 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It’s comforting wrapping myself in nostalgia; reintroducing myself to the Bailey Savings & Loan. In today’s world, do banks like Bailey's still exist?

The interior of the U.S. Bank on Lee Road looks like 2009, but there is warmth about it that feels more like 1946. Walk inside and you are greeted with a welcoming wave, nod or smile. I sat down with Eureka Herd, the branch manager, who said: “U.S. Bank is in the business of serving the community, and we pride ourselves on customer service. Our bankers address customers by name and customers feel a connection with the bankers. Some of our customers grew up in families that banked with us and now their own children are coming in.”

National news sources reported dismal retail sales in 2008. And while most Heights retailers report a difficult 2008 and an uncertain 2009, there were some bright spots.

Heights merchants reported sales down from 15 to 30 percent in 2008.  January is typically a slow month for retail sales, but some retailers report that this January appears to be much slower than usual.

La Tea Dolly, a children’s tea shop located at 1637 Lee Road, has been made over by lifestyle guru Peter Ishkhans, the host of Style Network’s Peter Perfect. Taped last fall, the episode will air in February.

Ishkhans, who trained as a portrait artist and began his career as a hair dresser in London, has become an expert at making over a struggling business’s image and giving the owners tools for success. 

Sisters Monica Davis, Sharee Johnson and Harolyn Smith opened La Tea Dolly in 2007. 

For generations, Heights residents have come to Mitchell’s Fine Candies for their Valentine’s Day chocolates.

Owner Bill Mitchell explains the appeal. "Chocolate is one the pleasures of life. Chocolates are a pleasure to give and a pleasure to receive.”

Dark chocolate has health benefits, too - antioxidants. Mitchell’s father lived to be 102.

 

"Most of the time, we do business with people we already know. The chamber provides a forum for creating those relationships," says Angie Pohlman, executive director of the Heights-Hillcrest Regional Chamber of Commerce.

On Jan. 31, Parnell's Pub, the cozy Irish bar at 2167 Lee Road, celebrated its 12th anniversary. The business is owned by Declan Synnott, a native of Ireland's County Dublin.

In 1996, Synnott moved here from Boston to help open Flannery’s Pub in downtown Cleveland. Not long after, he was introduced to The Charles Stewart Parnell near the Cedar Lee Theater. He bought it on Feb. 1, 1997 and then made Cleveland Heights his home as well.

While many small businesses struggle, close or reinvent themselves, Gwynby Antiques and Gifts remains true to its original mission: to offer the public authentic 18th and 19th century French, American, and English antique furniture, and unique gifts.

The holiday shopping season is upon us, and I asked some of our local merchants to share their ideas for my extensive gift list. For other ideas, view our eNews on shopping and giving local.

Patience is a virtue in the development business. Patience paid off ten fold in the case of 2917 Mayfield Road, just west of Honda Motorcars. The building, vacated by In House Furniture a few years ago, sat forlornly, watching the thousands of cars make their daily commute downtown. Its patience was rewarded when Cleveland Heights resident Yanbing Chen purchased the building in January 2008.

All About U Fitness (AAUF) is a new personal training facility located in the Rockefeller Pointe building at the corner of Mayfield Road and Lee Boulevard. Owner and certified personal fitness trainer Eric Price is fulfilling his lifelong dream of operating his own training center in the city he loves.