ASHLAND — The city of Ashland isn’t typically in the business of real estate, Mayor Matt Miller told the crowd at a Thursday ribbon cutting for Cartolina on Main.
But this particular business is an exception.
The new downtown business officially opened in August. Owner Rochelle Shambaugh rebranded and brought together two businesses she owned: an Etsy business called Sweet Cartolina, and Spectrum Photo.
Located at 16 E. Main St., the shop carries notebooks, gel pens, stickers and more. It also offers the photo printing services Shambaugh did at Spectrum.
At Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, Miller shared how the city waded into the real estate business back in 2020 to make the storefront a possibility.
“Ashland acquired this building to get rid of a public nuisance and safety hazard,” Miller said, noting bricks used to fall from the front of the building.
The city, aided by community development block grants from the state, renovated the building. But, Miller said the city wasn’t allowed to use the building for governmental purposes.
Four years later the perfect occupant had moved in with Shambaugh’s shop.
“It diversifies the offerings on Main Street,” Miller said. “It’s also just a classy group.”
Ashland Main Street’s executive director, Sandra Tunnell, spoke at the ribbon cutting, too. She said the project to renovate 16 E. Main St. was a prime example of a public-private partnership. Tunnell lauded the city’s leadership and effort.
Amy Daubenspeck, the president of the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce, and State Rep. Melanie Miller also spoke at the ribbon cutting.
“With social media and email, the art of writing a letter and printing out photos is a lost art,” Daubenspeck said. “But here, we’re bringing it back.”
Below are photos from the ribbon cutting ceremony.
