By Brandon McGlone
sports@garrardcentralrecord.com

Lancaster, KY (April 14, 2020) - Soon there will be a new business opening its doors on the northeast corner of the Public Square in Lancaster where the Foley-Norton Real Estate Office once was.

When? Well that’s the problem.

“All of our racks and counters got moved in over the weekend and [Monday] I started unpacking boxes and getting the store ready,” Laura Branson, owner of Uptown Boutique, LLC said. “But as of right now I don’t even have a tentative date to open until they give me the all-clear and tell me that I can.”

The store had planned a grand opening this past weekend. However, like the best-laid plans of mice and men, something went awry in the form of the coronavirus pandemic that has placed an indefinite closure to non-essential, public-facing businesses.

Uptown Boutique will carry women’s, misses, plus and children’s clothing along with shoes, accessories, home decor and monogramming. “Farmhouse Glam” is how Branson describes the style she’ll be bringing to town.

What is certain is that when the restrictions are lifted the store will have a clean, contemporary and cozy retail space thanks to one of the latest renovations undertaken by Chris “Roo” Elleman, owner of Elleman Properties, LLC.

Elleman purchased the property at 51 Public Square over the winter and went to work on making the space viable for not just one, but two businesses. A dividing wall was placed between the two entrances of the building. The left side (which will hold the boutique) is finished. 

“Other than hanging her sign up outside it is completely ready to go,” Elleman said. “The right side is still in progress -- two to three weeks out. We’re meeting with potential occupants and I’m waiting to see who’s coming in, that way if there needs to be any adjustments we can do it from the start.”

Elleman, who sits on the board of the Industrial Development Authority, is a proud, lifelong Garrard Countian that has made it a top priority to use his business successes as a means for giving back to his hometown: “Investing in a city that invested in me,” as he puts it.

“When I started out here in business everybody embraced me, everybody trusted me, they invested in me,” Elleman explained. “So I think it’s now my role to invest in them and bring things to the town that will help us grow.”

Purchasing properties like the one on the Square and bringing them back to life is a way that Elleman feels he can beautify the town and make it more attractive for potential developers and businesses. This has to be done while attempting to maintain a profit, but Elleman believes there is a moral obligation for local investors like himself to take pride in their properties for the overall benefit of the community -- not just focus on the bottom line.

Too often he doesn’t see that as being the case.

“As a whole we as investors should get on the same page and should look to better Lancaster -- clean the city up and maybe give it a facelift,” Elleman said. “If it’s something that we’re going to make money off of then we ought to be proud of it. Yes, the ultimate goal is to make a profit, but have a little decency -- keep it nice. 

“I’ve always been a firm believer that if you buy a property you should be able to fix it up and keep it up. We can’t always control what people do inside the house or property, but we can control what the outside looks like.”

Elleman sees dilapidated rental properties and neglected buildings as an injustice to average Lancaster citizens -- those who are having their property values sink and those who are desperate to see jobs and commerce come into the area.

“This is a beautiful little community,” he said. “Everybody cares, everybody takes care of one another -- it’s hard to sell that [to potential outside investors] when you drive through certain areas of town and it looks awful.”

That is one reason why Elleman chose to renovate this latest building and was thrilled to have a fellow Garrard native come in as a tenant.

“I reached out to Laura before I bought it to see if she was interested, and of course that was before the virus and stuff hit,” Elleman explained. “But she’s still on board and still wants to move forward, and I told her I’m willing to help her anyway I can.”

Branson and Elleman graduated together from Garrard County High School in 2000. She got on board with her former classmate and closed her previous business, Southern Magnolia in Danville, with the full expectation of hitting the ground running with Uptown Boutique in her hometown.

“When I was planning for everything and ordering merchandise I had no idea we weren’t going to be able to move forward -- but nobody did,” Branson said.

Still, Branson is glad she chose to make the move. Her business would be closed to the public either way, and at least now she is building a brand in the community that had a part in building her.

“I’m happy to be bringing this business to the town that I was raised in and love,” she said.

Kristi Short, the manager at Uptown Boutique, explained that the move made sense because of the social connections Branson already had with the community.

“She already has a base of people she has gone to school with and done business with, and a lot of her customer base was from Garrard County anyway,” Short explained.

As far as beginning a new operation or making investments in this unprecedented time when a pandemic has the market behaving unpredictably, Elleman admitted that it could be a risky move.

“It could be, but it’s one of those things -- should we be holding onto our money now or should we be investing for when this thing clears up and hopefully be on the top side and benefit from it?”

Through his role on the IDA and personal business experience, Elleman also believes Lancaster is in a prime position for a potential economic renaissance. 

“You’ve got the solar company coming which is a big investment,” he said. “There’s been talks of other things coming in. I mean, who knows with this virus exactly what will happen, but I think we’ve had positive feedback and overall good connections with the people we’ve talked to about coming here.”

While Uptown Boutique hopes to be a part of that renaissance they are still waiting for clearance to officially take flight. In the meantime you can browse and purchase merchandise on their Facebook page -- Uptown Boutique, LLC -- where they have begun to post items and will be adding more as they ramp up to finally opening their doors. They are happy to take orders and answer questions through messaging on the social media site.

Elleman Properties can be reached at 859-792-1455.