Hubbub owner Rebecca Staebler primes a new fixture that will be installed at the former home of Hubbub at 505 North Tower in downtown Centralia. The building, damaged by a drunk driver in 2017, is expected to reopen by mid to late October.
David Kiedrowski of Fruffels works with Hubbub owner Rebecca Staebler on designing a refreshed look for the downtown Centralia shop, which is set to reopen at its original location in mid to late October. Kiedrowski designed the original interior for the store and Staebler said she decided to turn the construction into a chance to re-brand.
Hubbub owner Rebecca Staebler works alongside David Kiedrowski of Fruffels on new fixtures for Hubbub, which is expected to reopen in its original location in downtown Centralia by mid to late October. Kiedrowski worked on the original design for the shop, which will celebrate its 15th anniversary this year, and said he was excited to work with Staebler on the new look for the store.
If everything goes well, Rebecca Staebler’s wish to celebrate the 15th anniversary of HUBBUB at the shop’s original location will come through.
While there’s still much to be done at 505 N. Tower Ave., it looks likely Staebler can resume business there by mid to late October.
“We think we have everything lined up so that we can do it pretty efficiently,” Staebler said of the work yet to be done.
The move would end an unfortunate chapter for the downtown Centralia business that started more than three years ago. In May 2017, a motorist driving under the influence struck the building that housed HUBBUB, a more than 100-year-old property that Staebler had owned since 2005. The incident damaged the portion that housed the storefront so badly that it was not safe to use without repairs.
Staebler’s living quarters in the back were unharmed but she was forced to move her business to a vacant space at the nearby Wilson Hotel. Still, she said she had always planned to rebuild and return to the location lovingly known as 505. The process of actually completing the needed repairs to the building was slow because of negotiations with insurance companies and issues with contractors. A new contractor was brought on earlier this year and work began on the building but then COVID-19 restrictions, which shut down all construction in the state for a short period of time, also affected the project.
Staebler said she said while she was glad the structural issues did not affect her ability to continue living there, living in a construction zone has been a challenge. For instance, most recently when COVID-19 restrictions shut down the project, the building had just boards where the large front windows had been.
“It was cold and dark,” she said. “It was a pretty miserable winter.”
Searching for materials that would be compatible with the old building was one of the reasons the process took so long, Staebler said. For example, they were never able to cost-effectively find any new bricks that would match with the damaged brick corner. So, they ended up deciding to reuse the brick they had on site, which made the demolition take much longer.
“The team we hired took (the wall) down brick by brick so it could be salvaged,” Staebler said.
But there have also been some opportunities for upgrades within the reconstruction process. Staebler said she was able to upgrade to double-paned, UV filtering glass for the large front windows. The floor joists in the entirety of the building were also opened to add insulation to the floor. One of the new projects Staebler just recently received approval for is adding a doorway to the side of the building facing Center Street, which will provide a walkway into the art garden on that side of the property. Work on that addition is set to begin later this month.
“I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” she said of the doorway.
Another silver lining is the chance to remodel the inside of the store, which had remained fairly similar sicne the day it opened. Staebler is working with David Kiedrowski of Fruffels, who did the original design for the space, on adding new lighting and adding new areas to accommodate items such as clothing, which she did not carry when the store first opened.
“Now, it’s all about what I want to do with the space,” Staebler said. “It’s an opportunity to move things around, freshen up and deal with inventory I didn’t have before. It’s a chance to kind of re-brand.”
