Prior to the Civil War a canal boat manufacturing facility was located near the Street of Shops location. The Pennsylvania Cross Cut Canal System was close by and remnants of the canal locks can still be found just a short distance from our current location.
After the Civil War, a three-story structure was built for the purposes of textile manufacturing, and it continued for many years in a wide variety of textile-oriented businesses from fabric creation to assembly of finished garments.
Sometime in the 1920s, a fire caused the removal of the top portion of the three-story building, and a new architectural plan redesigned the building as we see it today.
Just after World War II, the building was sold to Pennsylvania House furniture, and all of their upholstered furniture was manufactured on this site until 1980 when the operation was moved to High Point, North Carolina.
Pennsylvania House then used this location for all of their engineering projects. Prototypes of proposed furniture products were created prior to entering into full production at the main plant across Route 15.
In 1996, Pennsylvania House Furniture sold the building to local entrepreneur, Craig Bennett. Mr. Bennett grew up in Lewisburg and is a graduate of Lewisburg High School and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Returning to Lewisburg, Mr. Bennett started a Historic Real Estate Restoration and Renovation business. One focus of the business was the creative adaptive reuse of historic buildings. The original business model was used to create the Street of Shops and the Rollermills Antique Mall.
The Street of Shops vision was to create a town within the building that offered spaces of varied sizes for small businesses of almost any size to showcase their products and services. Our current operation serves a wide region as a small business incubator, and has given many individuals an opportunity to explore their business ventures with maximum exposure and very limited risk.
Today the Street of Shop Restaurant and retail activities draw more than 20,000 guests a month, and continue to grow each year.