Belgian Waffle Shop Celebrates Opening With Ribbon Cutting
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WHEELING -- After she sliced the red ribbon with a giant pair of scissors, Tara Kobasko threw her hands into the air in a moment of jubilation for the grand opening of her new eatery, the Belgian Waffle Shop, on Wednesday morning.
Kobasko had a lot of reasons to celebrate during the ribbon cutting, hosted by the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce, as she had to go through some trials and tribulations to get the shop ready.
The storefront, located at 1209 Market St. in Wheeling, needed much more work than she initially believed. Her first contractors left without finishing the work but kept her money, she said. But she found another company, did some work herself and also received help from family friends Dave and Julia Bobka to get the job done.
"We tore up everything - from the floor to the ceiling to all new electrical outlets, the walls, the plumbing, the bathroom," she said.
"I did so much work in here myself that I never thought I could have done, but I did it. I learned so much."
Kobasko said it is a relief to finally be open and serve customers her gourmet waffles as she envisioned.
"I just feel like it's an out of body experience. It's surreal that it's finally here," she said. "Because when you're in business there are times when you get down, you don't know if you're going to make it.
"It takes everything in you to get where you're trying to get. So when I finally got here it felt like a really good dream.
"It's exciting to see how everybody took to it, and everybody loves it and enjoys it. I'm hearing kids coming in here saying it's the best day ever, and the best waffle they've ever had."
Kobasko, who grew up in Bellaire and Wheeling, said she had several locations she thought about moving into, but Wheeling was her first choice.
"This is the perfect location; there's so much around this," she noted. "It's the perfect spot for Wheeling to have something different."
The shop is located directly across from the McLure Hotel and just feet away from the popular Vagabond Kitchen. Though on-street parking is temporarily blocked on Market Street because of street work, there is on-street parking available nearby on 12th Street. Off-street parking is also available at the McLure Hotel parking garage on Chapline Street.
Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott attended the ceremony and said he was happy to see another business open downtown.
"It's absolutely great to see someone thinking outside of the box and opening a new retail shop in downtown Wheeling," Elliott said.
"I certainly recognize this is a tough time for businesses downtown with all the streetscape working going on ... but it's important for people to know that we have these new downtown businesses taking a chance and this is the time to support them."