SMART Centre Market Cuts Ribbon on New Downtown Wheeling Home
Derek Redd Trending
As the oversized scissors sliced through the blue ribbon Friday afternoon, an Ohio Valley favorite welcomed guests to its new digs.
SMART Centre Market celebrated its grand reopening Friday at its new Main Street location. The business -- where owners Robert and Libby Strong display and demonstrate so many science experiments and projects -- had been in Wheeling's Centre Market. Their old spot is now the site of Grandpa Joe's candy shop. Now its entrance is right off Main Street across from Public Market.
Robert Strong said that, two years ago when he and his wife first walked through the doors of the old Goodwin Drug Store, he saw the promise. The bones of the building were good. The roof didn't leak. The pieces were in place to create a fun new headquarters for the business.
"It's really exciting," he said. "This is something that we have just been planning and working on and we've been scrubbing and moving in and fixing and working with the electricians and the plumbers and all of the various folks that have made this possible."
Strong credited the Smith family of workshops for the look of the new site. The Strongs were able to incorporate the items that made them so popular at their old store -- the polished stones, fossils, science kits and more -- into the shelves and other nooks at the Main Street property. They've also added items found in pristine condition when cleaning out the drug store, old tissue boxes, sunglasses and other knick knacks.
The transformation isn't done, either. The Strongs had hoped to get their ice cream parlor up and running for Friday, but it won't be long before they're serving Kirke's Ice Cream to visitors. They also hope to have the second floor renovated into a hands-on science center within a year.
Brooke Anderson, membership and marketing coordinator for the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce, said it was wonderful to have a business so loved by so many ready to welcome people back inside its doors.
"It's so exciting, it's hard to put it into words," Anderson said. "This is what Wheeling needs, a place for families and kids to come and not just have fun, but learn and get involved in hands-on activities.
"It's inspiring, honestly," she added, "that a place like this is in Wheeling, West Virginia, and their doors are open to the public again. It's something every family needs to come and see."
SMART Centre Market will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.