WARSAW — Tina Bergman and Angela Pequignot couldn’t wait to reopen their store ahead of Christmas.

The two sisters bought Elysian Co, a women’s boutique store at 110 E. Center St., Warsaw, earlier this year from their sister, Elise Wright, with the eventual intentions of remodeling the inteior.

But significant water damage to the building in Occtober sped up that idea after renovations to the building became necessary.

The store closed eight weeks ago for renovations. On Saturday, the owners saw brisk business after reopening and were thankful to reopen shortly before Christmas.

"She sold the business to us in April, so as new owners, we experienced all of this and made it through," Bergman said.

Given the circumstances, they could have looked around for a new locations, but chose to stay.

"We love the atmosphere downtown. We have always been here and we just wanted to stay," Bergman said. "There's lots of beautiful businesses downtown and we want to keep the business flowing."

Elysian is the second downtown business to face challenges and elected to stay close to their original store location.

Earlier this fall, the owner of Male Fashions, which had been located across the street from Elysian, had to find a new store and ended up moving just a block away. 

At the same time, the women’s fashion store is surrounded by other businesses that are either renovating or recently opened. Those include Maggies Coffee and Treats, which opened a few months ago, as well as The Courthouse B+B Market, which has expanded and renovated on Buffalo Street and RockSteady Pizza Parlor, which opened last weekend on Market Street. 

On top of that, across the street, three storefronts that include the old Male Fashions property are being renovated for a future use that has not yet been announced.

"I feel like it's growing," Bergman said. "I feel like there's some fun shops here. Good places to eat. Good community — lots of good customers," she said.

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