The Legacy Arts Building currently hosts Alter Ego Comics, Legacy Sounds Studio, Purple Feet Wine Boutique and Pea of Sweetness.
LIMA — Live at the Lab is no more.
Owner Marc Bowker shut down the popular entertainment venue in the Legacy Arts Building on Main Street in downtown Lima in October, but it was for a greater purpose: Purple Feet Wine Boutique, which operated in a shared space with Alter Ego Comics, moved to the back of the building to conquer its own space.
“The nice thing about this building is that we own it, but all the small business owners are collective and we brainstorm and spitball all the time to come up with ideas and ways to make the space better,” Bowker, who with wife Angie owns the building and Alter Ego Comics, said. “Things were going decently with Live at the Lab, especially with stand-up comedy, but we knew that Purple Feet needed a different space. And at the same time, I wanted to expand Alter Ego a little bit to accommodate some of our new products and to evolve, we needed more space.”
Bowker said that it also became too much for him to split his attention between Alter Ego and Live at the Lab.
For Purple Feet, though, the opportunity was too good to pass up.
“We picked a target date to re-open in early November and we just looked at the space and put everything in here according to my vision of what it would look like,” David Bermosk, general manager of the wine boutique, said. “We put everything in here within about three weeks and got it back open.”
Moving into the space turned out to be easier than Bermosk thought.
“The place already had good bones,” he said. “I was talking to Omar Zehery, who owns Legacy Sounds Studio, and he was telling me about the work that was done beforehand. And I feel like it just keeps evolving into a better space.”
Bermosk said he almost singlehandedly moved everything himself and had a friend help with painting and other hardward needs.
Although the space is about the same as what the wine boutique took up in the front, Bermosk said that putting the bar, its collection of wines and beverages and a dining room in the back of the building provided some significant improvements.
“Having better lighting, a cozier atmosphere and then being able to not have conflicting hours with the store is a lot better,” he said. “And we can use the patio in the summertime as a live space to conduct an atmosphere for people that want to get out and see each other and be able to relax in a lounge-type space.”
Popular events like trivia nights and wine dinners will soon return once the business gets used to the space, but Bermosk and Bowker said that fans of the entertainment at Live at the Lab might have good news when the weather becomes nicer.
“We’re still finding our footing a little on what we look like as far as people moving around inside the space without having it feel like you can’t walk around,” Bermosk said. “We’re still dialing in on our coziness level of how many people make sense to be back here, but I think once we hit the nicer weather, we can have that garage door and some live music outside and in here.”
“If they want to have live music, then they will be booking that live entertainment,” Bowker said. “And as Dave said, they’re still trying to get their legs under them, but once we get to spring and summer and can open up the patio, I think that’s gonna offer a lot of opportunities for different types of events. And that’s the key to having these events, whether they are Free Comic Book Day at Alter Ego or the Legacy Arts Street Party or a bourbon tasting at Purple Feet: that they are unique and additive to what else is already going on.”
For more information on Purple Feet Wine Boutique, visit its website, purplefeetwineboutique.com, and social media pages.
And for more information on Alter Ego Comics, visit its website, alteregocomics.com, and social media pages.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
