Lineup is changing along Hillsboro’s downtown

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN LAURA CAMPBELL
It’s a game of fruitbasket upset on Main Street this month, with several businesses and organizations either moving in, moving around or working to stay put amid the scramble.

The hub of the action is the intersection of Main Street and Grand Avenue. Quick Flick-Radio Shack is preparing to cross the street, a travel agency has landed in the Insurance Center building and a custom-frame and gift shop is trying to stay in place.

Down the street, the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church is moving its staff offices into a bigger space as they wait to rebuild.

— Quick Flick-Radio Shack. Quick Flick-Radio Shack crossed the road to get into a bigger building.

Quick Flick-Radio Shack has needed more breathing room for a while now, according to manager Cora Friesen, and the Total Home Repair & Appliance building at 101 S. Main will offer it just that.

The eclectic selection of products and services that Quick Flick offers-including video rental, cell-phone service, tanning, dry cleaning, greeting cards and electronics-has outgrown its home on 110 N. Main, said Friesen.

“We’re so cramped and crowded,” she said. “It’s been that way for a long time. That building just became available, and we decided if we we’re going to make a switch, that would be the corner we might want to be on.

“It’s kind of a key corner.”

The staff at Quick Flick is preparing for the big move, which is planned for the end of the month.

“Our goal is to be open by (March 31) at the new store,” she said.

While the new building is quite a bit larger than Quick Flick’s current location, Friesen said they plan to enjoy the open floor space rather than fill it with too many new products.

She hopes customers will “feel freer to browse around without thinking they’re going to step on somebody’s toes or get in somebody’s way,” she said.

“I think you’ll be amazed when we get in there that we’re just going to spread everything out,” she said. “We’re going to fill it up just with what we have.”

Even so, Friesen said there’s still some room to expand product selection without cramping the space all over again.

The key addition will be a second tanning bed, a purchase Friesen said will be significant to regular tanners who have wanted easier access.

She said they also hope to eventually expand their Radio Shack inventory as well as their selection of Hallmark cards and Alltel cell-phone accessories.

Of course, Quick Flick will continue to rent videos and DVDs, and they will also keep offering dry-cleaning pickup two days a week.

Store hours will remain the same: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday

— Mary’s Mats & More. Owner Mary Lancaster is taking it one month at a time, and this month the road ahead looks pretty good for her custom-frame and gift store at 107 E. Grand.

Mary’s Mats and More will stay open after all, Lancaster said, following a brief period when it appeared she’d have to close the doors.

A weekend trip to Kansas City last month had customers worried she was doing just that.

“I threw everybody off,” she said with a laugh.

But while business was slow last year, she said, things are looking better so far in 2005.

“This year it’s picked up,” she said. “I’m probably going to hang around here for a little while yet.”

Business will not be quite as usual, however. Store hours have changed due to Lancaster’s new part-time job on weekday mornings. The new hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. as usual on Saturday.

Lancaster will continue to provide custom-framing and repair on frames, mats and glass.

She also sells pewter and resin frames, framed and unframed prints and a few other gift items, including the bestselling Abdallah caramels.

“I’m the only place in town that carries those,” she said.

Lancaster has run Mary’s Mats and More for eight of her 25 years in Hillsboro. She shared space with Odds ‘N’ Ends at 209 S. Main for six years before moving the store to its current location two years ago.

— Travel Details ‘N’ More. A new travel agency in town is officially “open for business,” said owner Rosann Priel, with a grand-opening celebration scheduled for March 28 at 105 S. Main.

Travel Details ‘N’ More, located inside the Hillsboro Insurance Center, shares an office with Midwest Mortgage Group, owned by Priel’s husband, Warren.

Priel said her husband is slowly phasing out Midwest Mortgage, formerly NovaStar, which has offered home mortgages.

He will instead redirect his work toward commercial loans, insurance and investments, Priel said. Clients can continue to reach him, and now Travel Details ‘N’ More, at 947-5555.

Office hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday.

The Priels have lived in Hillsboro for six years, the first few of which Rosann worked in the admissions office at Tabor College.

She is now running the travel agency in association with Fare Deals Travel/Anchors Away Cruises in Denver, Colo.

“We’re just anticipating to fill a need in the area,” Priel said of the new business.

The agency can book trips for individuals and groups, she said, for anything from a family vacation to a mission trip.

A sign for the travel agency recently was put up outside the building.

— HMBC offices. Just over a year after its building burned to the ground, the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church is moving its offices into yet another temporary home as it continues making plans to rebuild.

Effective April 1, HMBC offices will relocate from Tabor College’s Solomon L. Loewen Science Building to the former Kunkel Construction office at 132 N. Main, said HMBC trustee chair Darrell Driggers.

The office staff just needs more space, he said.

“We have more staff than what we had offices available to us at Tabor,” he said.

Driggers said this lack of space had HMBC senior pastor Bruce Porter working from a home office.

The move will allow staff members to be in a central location, he said.

They will stay at the offices on Main Street “as long as we will take to rebuild the church,” Driggers said. “We would think probably 18 months.”

As far as the location for rebuilding, Driggers said no final decision has been reached.

“Everything is so tentative,” he said.

He said a congregational vote planned for this Sunday may determine if the new building will be located at its former downtown location or at an alternate site.

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