When co-owners Frank and Lucienne Bray decided to relocate their Ben Franklin store and their Final Frontier toy store from Minnesota, they settled on central Illinois as a good compromise.
“I don’t like cold weather, and after 18 years in Minnesota, I’d had enough of it,” Frank Bray said. “We had to figure out where we could go that would work for both of us. My first choice was Phoenix because I wanted somewhere nice and warm. But my wife would have killed me because it’s way too hot for her.”
After deciding to move to central Illinois’ climate, the Brays spent about a year researching locations that would work for two stores with distinctly different customer demographics.
The Midwest seemed a good fit for Final Frontier because of the toy shows that take place in the Chicago, Columbus and Cincinnati areas. Frank Bray added that he wanted to settle in a region that previously had a Ben Franklin store. He knew of its past presence in several greater Peoria area communities.
“I’ve been down here a number of times and I like the area,” he said. “We found the building here in Washington and seemed like an underserved community with not enough retail, and it seemed for the area that there wasn’t enough fabric and craft and that kind of stuff.”
Bray described the online response to a new Ben Franklin store in Washington as “unbelievable” and “otherworldly.” He and Lucienne established a Facebook account for the store, and he reported that it has received hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of responses, indicating high anticipation for the new retail offering.
“People are saying they are ‘beside themselves,’ and ‘so excited’ and that they ‘cannot wait,’ Bray said. “That gives us a really good hope that the store will do very well here.”
The Brays scheduled a soft opening for the new Ben Franklin and Final Frontier on Thursday, April 23. They have not yet set a date for the grand opening. The stores are located at 1501 Washington Road.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: After ‘otherworldly’ feedback, popular store ready to open new location
Reporting by Mike Kramer, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
