Compared to other college towns in Pennsylvania like Oakland and State College, the town of Slippery Rock is not notorious for offering a variety of locations for the public. However, Main Street, located in the heart of Slippery Rock, now has four new businesses that have been added to the street.
New businesses that have recently opened or have yet to open include Yumberries, Compadres Express, Back to the Vape and Computer & Cell Phone Repair.
Rhonda Criss is the owner of Yumberries, which is located at 249 S Main St where a photography business used to be. There are currently two other Yumberries, one located in Hermitage, Pennsylvania and the other in Boardman, Ohio. She explained that she is pushing to have her shop open for Labor Day weekend.
Criss said that Yumberries is a self-serve frozen yogurt shop that will feature 12 flavors from Honey Hill Farms. There will be 18 cold toppings and 15 dry toppings for customers to top their yogurt with. Price will be determined by the weight of the yogurt and will cost 42 cents per ounce.
Criss explained that after a few years of ups and downs in her career life, that she needed to work with people in order to be happy. After the close of a different frozen yogurt shop, Rock-N-Yogurt, which was located at 152 S Main St., Criss said she wanted to go into the frozen yogurt business, but that she wanted to try a different approach.
“Slippery Rock would be a great place to do this,” she said. “There is nothing like this around here.”
Unlike Rock-N-Yogurt, Yumberries will be open all year round besides on major holidays and will feature seasonal yogurts like pumpkin flavor and candy cane flavor. Criss said all Slippery Rock University students will receive a 10 percent discount with their SRU ID. She will also offer a rewards program where the customer’s cell phone will be utilized to keep track of points and that customers who are part of the rewards program will receive discount offers randomly via text.
When the frozen yogurt shop opens, business hours will be Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Criss explained that her hours will be very flexible and she will adjust her hours accordingly to what the customers what.
Compadres Express, located at 126 S Main St, will be taking over the location that used to be Inferno Pizza. Compadres Express is a smaller version of the local restaurant chain, Compadres Mexican Restaurant. The chain has locations in Grove City, Pennsylvania, Meadville, Pennsylvania, Edinboro, Pennsylvania and Greenville, Pennsylvania.
Manager at the Grove City location, Leo Quintero, said that Compadres Express will be similar to restaurants like Chipotle and Moe’s Southwest Grill, where the customer has their order taken and the food will be made-to-order.
He said that the projected opening day will be in 30 to 60 days and that Compadres Express will have a modified menu compared to the other restaurants.
Business partners John Cooney and Garret Schloss opened a vaporizer shop called Back to the Vape at 173 S Main St, where hippy themed shop Heathers used to be.
Cooney said that the shop is open, but that the official opening day will happen during Village Fest.
“This has been a dream of mine for the last four years,” Cooney said. “I have eight years of glassblowing experience.”
Cooney and Schloss hand blow their own glass products and hope to eventually blow the glass inside the shop. Cooney said that prices for glass will range from $7 to $800.
Cooney said that a friend of his makes the liquids and that liquid orders can be customizable when it comes to what kind of flavors the customer wants. He said that they will have the ability to mix flavors and an 18 milliliter bottle of liquid will cost $7.50. He expects vanilla custard and “loops,” which is a Kellogg’s Fruit Loops inspired liquid, to be fairly popular.
Cooney explained that using a vaporizer is not 100 percent risk-free.
“It is a method for people to step down off of cigarettes,” he said.
Computer Cell & Cell Phone Repair, located at 208 S Main St., is open for business. Greg Quintero is a technician in the shop and a 1994 alumnus of SRU with a degree in Information Systems.
He explained the shop will do anything that is computer related, including fixing computer viruses and fixing cracked screens of any type of phone.
Quintero said when it comes to fixing a cracked phone screen, prices can range from $100 to $115. He said he understands that college students are on a budget, but that the needs to remain competitive as well.
La Famiglia Pizza and Pasta House, located at 354 S Main St., is an Italian restaurant that opened on June 25, 2013. The restaurant now offers a delivery service to anywhere in Slippery Rock within a four mile radius of the restaurant.
Owner of La Famiglia Mike Szurek explained that the restaurant does takeout all day and the delivery service begins at 4 p.m. He said that both takeout and delivery are full menu, but that there will be $1.50 delivery charge and a minimum $8 food order required.
Szurek explained that La Famiglia’s menu is not just limited to lunch and dinner, but that a breakfast menu is also available.
The last name for the computer repair is wrong. Greg is not a Quintera. Facts should be verified before posting