Downtown businesses share what services and products they offer students
Select downtown businesses had deals and sales during the annual fall open house on Friday, Sept. 29 and Saturday, Sept. 30. They encourage students to come and take part in all they have to offer.
The businesses participating in the open house were Art Reach of Mid Michigan, GreenTree Co-op, Trillium, Pure Vitality, Basketree, Le Fleur Boutique, Motorless Motion, Headliners Salon, Pleasant City Coffee, Redbloom Yoga and Gray’s Furniture and Accessories.
Art Reach of Mid Michigan is a nonprofit art center. The portion of it residing in Mount Pleasant is a gift shop and gallery that offers consignment to Michigan artists and provides monthly shows to exhibiting artists, said gift shop and gallery coordinator Kim Bigary.
“There’s always something fun in the store” said Bigary.
There are always volunteer options for students during events and in the gift shop, which is something especially art students may take interest in. She also said many students don’t come because they believe only fancy, expensive art is sold there. In reality, they have all different kinds of items including chapstick and t-shirts for a variety of prices.
The items sold most frequently are t-shirts, jewelry and special items they may only have for a limited time like Michigan-themed shot glasses.
There were markdowns and sales on a variety of items during the open house. For every $20 spent, a $5 off coupon was given for a future purchase.
GreenTree Co-op is a natural foods store that offers a variety of items including gluten free and organic choices. Some of their most popular items include Buck-eye Bark, which is a chocolaty, peanut butter and salted bar, and local eggs. During the open house, they had sales such as 20 percent off cheese and 10 percent off wine.
General manager Sara Christiansen has been working for this store for 14 years and encourages students to visit. Being a Co-op, they are owned by the community and put all their profits towards making sure the citizens of Mount Pleasant have a place to go for healthy food options.
One of the newest additions to Downtown Mount Pleasant is Pure Vitality, which is a family-owned business that is equal parts juice bar and spa. One of their most popular items is the float pod, which allows its user to float on one thousand pounds of epsom salt.
“All of the top athletes float. Steph Curry floats, Tom Brady floats and has the exact model that we do in his house,” said partial owner Mitch Perry in regards to their float pods.
The epsom salt draws out any pain and inflammation that a user may be dealing with, and users can choose to keep the lid open, or close it for a sensory deprivation experience.
As for their juices, Perry says they are all fresh pressed and the smoothies are all natural with no added purees or sugars. For the open house, Pure Vitality offered a $10 infrared massage.
“When you’re on the massage bed, there are jade stones that emit the infrared which heats up your muscles and joints and push out toxins that are making you sore,” Perry said.
He also said studies have been done on their particular massage bed and half an hour of time on it is equal to what a masseuse can do in one hour. Perry says they want their technology to be as modern and advanced as they can so they can provide for the community and allow them to feel their best.
