USA, PA: Invisible Man Brewing holds soft opening in Greensburg

Two back-to-back business openings have brought new energy to a block on Greensburg’s South Pennsylvania Avenue, TribLIVE reported on October 17.

Wight Elephant Boutique held its grand opening on October 17, a major milestone for the developers who have spent more than $1 million renovating the long-vacant building at 136 S. Pennsylvania Ave.

“I’m not an emotional person, but I’ve been super emotional on this project, seeing the building transform and seeing the whole town come together,” said Suzanne Ward, co-owner of developer CityCribs.

Next door, Invisible Man Brewing held a soft opening on October 16, with plans for a more formal grand opening next week.

“I think it’s a really fun place to be, and I’m just looking forward to that energy,” co-owner Sean McLaughlin said.

Wight Elephant is the first tenant at 136. The rest of the 16,000-square-foot building is still undergoing extensive renovations.

Once work is done later this year, the Downtown Greensburg Project will move into offices next to the boutique.

The Trendy Bunny baby boutique will open downstairs, while the upper floors will become apartments.

Ward said she’s pleasantly surprised by how quickly CityCribs has been able to find commercial tenants.

Wight Elephant is a family business, owner Victoria Piekut said. She has fashion and marketing savvy, her parents Jeffrey and Christine have retail experience, and her brother Zachary has web design expertise.

The family launched the business online in 2016, then opened a physical store in Irwin. The Greensburg store is its second location.

“Everybody that we talk to, they say we don’t really have fashion in our area,” Victoria Piekut said. “We see a need for fashion at an affordable price in Greensburg.”

CityCribs has spent more than $75,000 restoring the building’s once-shabby facade.

The building was empty for more than a decade.

“It was just a vacant building for a really long time, but if you go back to pictures of when previous owners had the building, it was gorgeous,” Ward said. “So that was something we wanted to keep. … I think this building is drop-dead gorgeous.”

The building next door has been undergoing a transformation of its own.

McLaughlin and Invisible Man co-owner Stephanie Victor moved into 132 S. Pennsylvania Ave. in March. The building used to house Second Nature furniture store, and they’ve been hard at work for months turning it into a brewery.

nvisible Man offers flights, pints, 64-ounce growlers and 22-ounce crowlers.

It has six of its own beers on tap, along with Bella Terra cider. McLaughlin said he plans to start serving local wines and liquors within the next week.

The beer list will rotate frequently, he said.

“The response from the community has been super positive,” he said. “People have been reaching out and saying, ‘I think it’s exciting to have new businesses in the city.’

20 October, 2019