isn’t a bank anymore — it’s the location for the Lawrenceville Market House, a newly established retail space.
Mendelssohn said his idea was to combine coworking and retail spaces, and then market that towards small businesses in the area.
“So the idea is to take the coworking model, apply it to retail and remove all the barriers of entry that a small retailer would have to open up a retail store, especially in a prime location,” Mendelssohn said.
“They built it to be the center of the neighborhood, to make it feel like people could come in and out, with the big glass, and the way it was kind of structured was meant to be a hub.
At the Market House’s grand opening Thursday, seven out of nine of the retail spaces were filled with small businesses.
“This has always been my dream, to have my own thing on a really small level, and to be able to know the people that are shopping,” Smrekar said.
“We really emphasize local makers and local artists, and that’s kind of the point of the store.