GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A business with local roots is starting a new adventure in the heart of Grand Rapids.
Renovations are underway at a building at the corner of Bridge Street NW and Stocking Avenue NW to create Rapid River Stillhouse, a Nashville-style tasting room, restaurant, bar, rooftop and entertainment venue.
The history behind the creation of Rapid River Stillhouse is also interesting. This new venture stems from moonshine business SipShine, a company started in Grand Rapids right before the COVID-19 pandemic started.
"SipShine ballooned into a 33-state behemoth," said Dale Kivinen, Rapid River's experience director. "It wasn't the way we wanted to start this company."
The leaders of the company are now hitting the reset button, creating a new brand and parent company to umbrella all of their products together, called Rapid River Beverage Company. The transformation into the new company created the new Bridge Street business.
"When you go to Nashville, when you go to Gatlinburg, it's all music, it's all product tastings, it's all food, it's vibrant lifestyle," said Kivinen. "And we thought this corridor of the city is exactly what we're looking for."
The building the stillhouse is going into has a long history in the city. Rapid River leaders say the building previously was a sausage factory, a brewery and most notably, was home to the Little Mexico Cafe for years.
Kivinen says throughout the years, the building survived two fires. When they bought the building, Kivinen said they found some pieces of history from businesses past.
Kivinen says they found a portrait of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He says they'll rejuvenate the portrait, and hang it in the venue as a nod to the past.
Renovations at the building are still ongoing. Kivinen says they hope to open to the public this fall.
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