Harrisburg’s 518 Marketplace to bring five businesses under one roof

Oct. 23, 2018

A new store in Harrisburg is bringing several businesses together in one space.

518 Marketplace is the creation of Pam Harris, owner of Emer-GenZ Eats & Treats. The emporium at 518 N. Cliff Ave. will house her prepared-meal business, two home decor shops, a coffee shop and a bakery.

“You can come and have a cup of coffee, shop, have food and take one of my meals home,” Harris said.

“It’s all those things that I recognized that Harrisburg didn’t have, so I went looking for those people, and I got lucky.”

The other businesses at 518 Marketplace, which opens Saturday, are Gravel Road Blend, Gravel Road Boutique and Decor, Not Just Cupcakes by Jen and White Barn Charm.

Harris is excited to be working with her new collaborators.

“I call them my kids,” she said. “They’re all young, motivated and creative.”

All of the businesses are new relatively new. Harris started Emer-GenZ in March. She has gone from making a half-dozen meals a day to 45 and has hired two part-time workers. Harris’ goal is to provide busy families with healthy, made-from-scratch food. She offers a half-dozen choices Monday through Friday and sells the leftover meals on Saturday at a discount. Emer-GenZ will share the kitchen at 518 Marketplace with Not Just Cupcakes by Jen and Gravel Road Blend.

Harrisburg business serves busy families with heat-and-eat meals

The coffee shop, which is owned by Shanon Abrahamson and her husband, Dusty, will serve a daily soup and sandwich. Abrahamson plans to start with one special and expand from there. Harris also will provide one of her daily meals as another option.

Customers who come in early for coffee will be able to get breakfast items from Not Just Cupcakes by Jen. In addition to baked goods, owner Jen McVay will cook egg sandwiches, omelets, pancakes and other dishes. McVay, who immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines 10 years ago, also will make Filipino breakfast items. She said those dishes include ingredients such as rice, a sweet sausage and tocino, which is pork belly.

Throughout the day, she’ll have grab-and-go Asian dishes such as egg rolls, soup, stir-fry noodles and sweet-and-sour pork.

McVay started her business a year ago in Canton, taking orders from customers and baking out of her home. She makes cakes, cupcakes and a variety of other desserts. At 518 Marketplace, she’s also planning to serve Filipino desserts as well such as flan, sponge cupcakes and a purple yam cake.

“I have a lot of Filipino friends in Sioux Falls,” she said. “That’s why I want to offer Filipino stuff too.”

If someone needs a last-minute birthday cake, they’ll be able to stop in and have one customized.

Owning a coffee shop has been a longtime dream for Abrahamson, who was a cardiology researcher at Sanford Health for 20 years, but Gravel Road came together quickly when Harris approached her just a few weeks ago.

“I grew up in Harrisburg, and it’s wonderful to be part of the growth,” Abrahamson said. The family lives in town and all four kids are in Harrisburg schools.

She hopes the coffee shop becomes a draw for all ages, from students who use it as a study hangout to women who gather to play cards or talk.

Gravel Road will use beans from Flyboy Coffee and also offer non-coffee drinks. It also will have Flyboy Donuts. Customers will be able to use a drive-thru too.

The family’s other business, Gravel Road Boutique & Decor, will offer rustic pieces for the home, Abrahamson said.

“We’ll have some new stuff, some refurbished, painted furniture, kind of a variety of things and prices too.”

Harris also invited another decor business to be part of 518 Marketplace. Sarah Manthey has been operating White Barn Charm out of her rural Harrisburg home since 2015, doing custom furniture painting for clients. She’ll stock the store with repurposed furniture that she has painted and new home decor items, including some that are made locally.

“On trend now is the farmhouse style, and I’ve always loved that, so I tend to trend that way,” she said. “I hope my pieces can blend into a lot of different styles.”

Manthey will continue to work out of her home shop, but she’ll be able to meet with customers at 518 Marketplace to talk about custom pieces.

Hours for 518 Marketplace will be 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

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Harrisburg’s 518 Marketplace to bring five businesses under one roof

518 Marketplace will offer customers a place to drink coffee, have breakfast and lunch, buy desserts and shop for home decor and gifts.

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