Business boom in downtown Clovis

CLOVIS - From breweries to fitness centers, downtown Clovis is seeing a surge of incoming businesses as old buildings on and around Main Street are being renovated to house new endeavors.

Range Movement opened its doors in April as founders Brooke McDonald and Meg Crawford combined childcare and fitness to create a unique workout space.

"We are a fitness studio specializing in small group classes. We do everything from strength, HIIT, yoga, barre, and recovery," McDonald said.

Along with adult classes, Range Movement also has "mini-ranger" classes for kids during popular workout times. While parents are working out, their kids can be playing safely nearby, making their workouts more accessible to parents and caretakers.

"We like the downtown area, we wanted to kind of help bring some business to it," McDonald said. "The prices were better down here and we ended up just kind of finding the ideal space."

The fitness studio occupies the space that housed Aucutt's Paint Store in the 1970s. It has been renovated to suit a workout space, and on the east-facing outside wall a Southwest-inspired mural was painted by the founder's friend Stephanie F. Windhorst.

Just down the road from Range is Bandolero Brewery, where renovations are still in progress but are wrapping up quickly.

"With COVID-19 going on it's been challenging to get parts and equipment because just about everything is on backorder with manufacturers either being on reduced schedules or completely shut down," said Andrew Logan, owner and brewer. "Luckily we're down to the final steps so we believe we'll be open in the next 30 days."

After more than 30 years in industrial manufacturing and seven years of home-brewing beer, Logan decided to open his own brewery.

"We didn't have any breweries in Clovis back when I started my project, and it was something I was interested in and wanted to try to do," he said.

"I've always thought it was very important in a community to redevelop the older downtown areas," he said. "I've been to a lot of breweries that are in downtown areas and I think they're key to sparking redevelopment. That's something I always thought was a good thing, to redevelop the older downtown buildings."

The brewery occupies the former space of Shoe String Vintage, which was in operation there for 14 years. It now features a massive open floor plan, long L-shaped bar, and a lot of stainless steel tanks for the brewing process.

Logan added that once things are up and running, he plans on adding garage doors to the front for an indoor-outdoor space, as well as play host to live music events after pandemic-era restrictions on restaurants and large gatherings are lifted.

Further down Main Street and over onto Pile Street, another project is well under way to be partially opened by the end of 2020. The Firehouse Workspace pays homage in its name to the first City Hall and firehouse of Clovis that was once in the same building.

"The first phase of our project is Firehouse Workspace. We know working alone can be lonely, so the Firehouse provides a way for you to work independently, together, by offering membership-style co-working with open and reserved desks. We'll also offer private offices and a reservable conference room, podcast studio, and photo studio," said Kala Adair, the owner of Firehouse Workspace."Our mission is to create a space that facilitates small-business growth and collaboration in our community."

Adair said a second phase is called The City Hall Guesthouse, planned to open in mid-2021 - if there are not any more surprises in store for businesses this year. It will be a luxury boutique-style accommodation with three suites available to guests. The suites will occupy the floor above the Firehouse Workspace.

While they are still finalizing renovations, Adair said most of the demolition inside of the building was a family job.

"I have three teenage sons, Gage, Easton, and Cooper, plus my husband," she said. "We did most of the demo ourselves, because I thought it would be a character-building experience. They might disagree though!"

Adair added that as the downtown area becomes busier, new business are likely to see it as the place to be.

"Currently, there's a feeling of growth and excitement in downtown Clovis, and I hope that continues to build on itself," she said.