The Mercantile is a magical space. The Rochester equivalent of the Room of Requirement for my Harry Potter fans out there. Daylight soaks the space: the buzz of restaurant prep echoes through the airy halls, and bounces off the glass of the skylights. Balconies from the floors above overlook draped greenery and a historic copper faced clock from the Sibley buildings’ heyday. The smell of bacon wafts through the corridors in the morning, but come noontime it’s shifted to freshly baked pizza and stir-fried vegetables. Children laugh, friends hug their hellos and goodbyes, deals are settled with handshakes all right here.
I’m a Rochester native. I grew up in Penfield to be exact, but my family and I were frequently downtown when I was a kid. As I grew up, my friends and I were always downtown. Specifically, we grew up visiting the Riverside Hotel down the street from the Mercantile as members of their pool club. Downtown Rochester has been an enigma for many over the years: a story that is shared across many rustbelt cities in the north east. Our downtown is swaddled, some might say strangled, by the remnants of the Inner Loop. Over the last few years, the heart of downtown has found a new rhythm. Life is coming back to the center city area and it couldn’t make me happier.
I joined the Mercantile on Main team this past November and I could not wait to sink my teeth into the behemoth that is Sibley Square and the endless potential it holds. It’s unique in the sense that so much is happening here and somehow most of the Greater Rochester area does not know about it. That’s where I come in, to introduce, or reintroduce, the Mercantile to our community as a space where life happens in a growing urban environment.
The Mercantile is precious to me, even if I’m one of the newer additions to the team working to make this space whole. It represents all of the things I want to see take place in my city, my hometown. Life happens here: first dates, coffee meet-ups with your work bestie, weddings, baby showers, countless business meetings. The Mercantile can never be stagnant; it’s always changing like a river. A new path is carved everyday by the seasonal menus our restaurants offer, the changes in the layout, the set up and take down of our Toyland display. It’s never one thing. Trying to say that it’s simply an urban food court is a fallacy. So much more happens here and that’s the beauty of having a space like the Mercantile in Rochester’s center city.
There is so much more I want to share with you all about the Mercantile on Main and Sibley Square, so tune in every month for our blog posts, follow us on social media to see the latest updates and shenanigans that are taking place, and if you want to know more about this historic building, reach out to me anytime at hlyons@winnco.com. My name is Hannah and I’m looking forward to hearing from you all.
