Two Elizabeth businesses opening despite pandemic

By Christine Haines

chaines@yourmvi.com

It seems more businesses have closed than opened this year due to the pandemic, but that isn’t stopping specialty stores from cropping up in downtown Elizabeth.

“A lot of people still have a good entrepreneurial spirit and they are taking a leap of faith,” said Elizabeth Area Redevelopment Corporation president Larry Ross.

At least two new businesses are slated to open before the end of the year in the borough. Two Sisters of the Soul had its soft opening Saturday and will soon be conducting regular hours for customers. A boutique barbershop is set to open sometime in December, Ross said.

“Business owners just need to adapt, and it’s not easy. Any small business is going to have a hard time,” Ross said. “Specialty shops have to remain creative in their marketing and in their advertising and in what they’re doing.”

Creativity is at the heart of business for Two Sisters of the Soul, which is owned by sisters Donna Costy and Georgia Biagini and their friend Michele Rash, all of Jefferson Hills. 

The three had considered a location in a new building in Jefferson Hills, but there were delays to being able to move in, Rash said, and then they found the space at 119 South Second St. in Elizabeth.

“It suits us. All our things are old and the building is old and it fits us,” Rash said. “Our main items are old, vintage pieces we’ve given new life to, repurposed into something else, maybe a china cabinet that’s now a coffee bar.”

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