Slowly but surely, more businesses are moving into downtown Lubbock. Next week, a new hotel and a new brewery will open up, and this downtown revitalization movement is a group effort.
The owners of Jux-Ta-Posh are two of the leaders of the movement. Their specialty is taking old furniture and vintage items, making them feel new again. That’s exactly what the business owners hope to do with downtown.
They have purchased several buildings, renovating them and giving them new life in hopes of encouraging other businesses to make the move.
For Kimberly Sparks, she knew when opening Jux-Ta-Posh, it had to be downtown.
“I wanted to keep the character and the charm of downtown and the beauty of the old character,” said Sparks.
The Sparks own four buildings downtown. The plan is to renovate the vintage spots and lease them out to other businesses who want to move to the area.
“It’s fun to go with a coat of paint and expose the these bricks,” she said. “Anything is possible with these spaces, and people will love it and want their businesses down here.”
“If we can get it up and going and get the interest, we can save a bunch of this stuff and get over the stigma of ‘Oh, these buildings are old and you can just build something new,'” Michael Sparks said.
And the city is working on it as well. This week experts from Washington, D.C. made the trek to Lubbock to see downtown.
“We brought in consultants and expert from Auburn University. They came in and they’ve done these studies across the U.S., specifically about what to do with downtown,” said Director of Development Services for the City of Lubbock, Steve O’Neal.
With all the talk of what to do with downtown, the Sparks have a simple goal.
“Enjoy downtown, again, like it was in the ’50s with the old cars and the people were shopping and it was the heart. It’s still the heart. We’re bringing back the heart of it,” said Kim Sparks.
A great resource on new businesses, restaurants and shops moving downtown is the community effort called Downtown LBK.
