The Cincinnati start-up
HighStreet, a full-service design studio and urban lifestyle store, and one of the best gift-shopping destinations in town, just made their home in Cincinnati a little more permanent.
HighStreet opened more than 10 years ago on Reading Road in an unlikely spot across the street from Staples. It has since grown into the go-to store for design help and home goods from furniture to lighting and wallpaper to awesome coffee table books you won’t find anywhere else. The broad collection of products and services blends modern and London styles to help consumers realize that they can be creative when designing their own spaces.
After two years of negotiations, co-founders Leah Spurrier and Matt Knotts purchased the building that houses their 8,000-square-foot store. They plan on using the extra two floors to expand their already award-winning business.
“We’ll have more than double the space,” Spurrier says. “We have some great plans for the rest of the building.”
HighStreet offers art direction, interior design and product design services and Spurrier is excited that the extra space will give those services room to grow.
The second floor will be stocked with more of HighStreet’s home goods, hand-selected from vendors from all over the world. Spurrier and Knotts also plan on offering framing, floral and even industrial antiques. But changes will extend beyond the interior. Spurrier says plans include making the massive space into a new Cincinnati icon.
The third and top floors of the building house a large loft-style apartment space, which Spurrier plans on finding a complimentary small businesses to occupy.
“It will be a more user-friendly design center for people who are serious about renovating their houses,” Spurrier says. “It will be much more open.”
With more space for warehousing, hosting events and offering more products, Spurrier and Knotts are poised and ready to elevate the stakes at HighStreet.
“We always wanted to grow,” Spurrier says. “This gives us the space we need to.”
By Evan Wallis
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