We're back in Three Oaks, Michigan this week.

And the commune market.

This is a fabulous space here.

I have my friend Jim with me, and this is a relatively new.

You guys have been here for around a year.

Almost.

Yes.

We officially open in, like, April of last year.

Okay.

We had finished construction around January, and then we'd spent the previous year in construction.

This is a former go kart factory.

Really?

And when you get into the front area, that used to be 50 years ago.

It was a used car lot for Laettner.

Chevrolet.

Okay.

Do you have, like, any components, like in, the, the, the corrugated metal in the front?

Yeah.

That is the old front of the building that has been buried for 50 years.

Really?

When I when we started pulling off the old siding and stuff, we found that.

So and then there's a clock in the front that is from, Carrie Laettner, which was one of the original owners of the her father on the dealership.

So very cool to be able to bring some of those components into it.

It's crazy.

You could talk to us about the vision that you have for this space.

Well, we we wanted to place, first of all, this place.

It's been kind of under utilized and empty for 20 years.

And, every day we would walk by and see this just empty hulk of a building.

And it's a huge building.

It's it's about 9000ft².

And we really wanted to create something for the community here, not just for the tourist trade, but for somebody, for the people that live here every day.

My partner Tom and I have retired here after we sold our business in Chicago.

And, this is so this is kind of a retirement project, but.

And this is not a retirement, really.

I know this is not this is definitely not been our project.

But we really wanted to bring something that would be a gathering spot for people and for locals, like a, some place that they are safe and they feel welcome every day, every day.

And, we were lucky.

And you meet, Raina and Alice, from Randalls that has opened Alan Ray's coffee shop, and they have a built in following, here in the area.

So, from the moment that they opened.

And winner gets a little bleak sometimes in Harbor Country without the tourist trade.

But they were, from the moment they opened.

We've had packed seats in there and everybody has really the the vibe is chill and and loving and community driven.

On any given day, you can see people working up there having meetings, planning overthrows, you know, whatever, whatever.

So I mean, you get the coffee, smell.

The pastries are beautiful over there too.

We have Celeste stolen from Greenbrier Bakery as our in-house pastry chef.

And so she not only does the pastries for that, but then for the commun, she'll do, wedding cakes, custom wedding cakes, and special pastries for here.

So you can rent this space out too, right?

Yes, absolutely.

And we've had everything from weddings and baby showers to art shows.

Randolph Street Market was here last year.

Art attack was here last year.

And one of the unique things about this space, outside of the the two storey with the mezzanine level, which is fabulous, but, we also have an outdoor courtyard that so we've had last year we had a pride party out there and and, you know, so you have that indoor outdoor flow.

Yeah.

And it gives much, much more possibilities of, you know, with the weird weather around here about moving in or out.

But yes.

So I love you have the garage door here.

We can open or close it too.

Yeah.

Upstairs there's, there's two lounges for, brides to get ready.

And, Are you thought of at all?

I hope so, I hope so, you really did.

And what's the capacity in here?

The capacity is for people.

It's about 280 people for the whole building.

The weddings.

Like for seated.

It's about 160.

170.

That's great, because I know a number of rides that are looking for spaces right now.

Oh my God, send them my way.

Yes, I, I'm definitely going to recommend them my way.

Yeah.

You know, what was your vision for this overall space you talked about.

You know you can rent the space.

This is a communal space for everyone coming through the door.

It's a welcoming space.

And then you also have crafting components in here too, and even some empty space that maybe we could utilize.

We were inspired by the market in Saint Joe, to be honest, you know, and how it has had kind of a little mini mart, appeal to it.

We knew we wanted a coffee shop as anchor tenant.

That was that was first and foremost, that we wanted to bring some everyday food and every day coffee to town.

Sure.

There are other great coffee shops that go on, but we're the only one that are open seven days a week.

Oh, I love that.

And then we met Ben and Corinne from Handmade Studios, and they came in with a presentation, and it used to be a high school, art teacher, and it just turns out it was her PowerPoint.

Her her art teacher in Laporte was, my best friend's sister.

So we had a connection.

And that's exactly the kind of vibe that I was hoping for over there.

So the empty space is is spot a 600 square foot space?

It's in the front window.

And I've been a little picky about trying to get something that will fit in with the other two tenants.

Five I get yes, I would love a bookstore or, you know, a plant store or something.

That's going to be like something where people could come every day.

And it's not just a special occasion.

Yeah, keep giving them a reason to come back in and just be a part of the community.

We operate kind of as a commune in terms of everybody has to get along and meetings and, you know, we make group decisions and they have a right of refusal on the, on the new tenants so that so that we make sure that we're all out of everything, I love it.

When can we go talk to the other couples out there?

Oh.

All right, let's go do that.