Crissup took advantage of two opportunities in Stillwater . First , she participated in last year ’ s Merry Main Street Christmas event on Block 34 . Her event in the hospitality dome allowed participants to get hands-on experience building charcuterie boxes .
“ So I kind of made the decision between the second and third weekend ( of Merry Main Street ) and signed the lease the Monday after . So as soon as I had moved my things out of my ( Merry ) Main Street ( dome ), … they just made their way to the new location ,” Crissup said .
Alane Zannotti was proud to see Crissup ’ s online business be able to move so quickly to Main Street . “ For both Shannon Williams and I , it was exciting because that means that every time we ’ ve had a dome , an online business has turned into a bricks and mortar .”
Social 174 follows Twisted Horn as the second online business that has rented a dome at Merry Main Street to then move into a Main Street location downtown .
“ I was thrilled for Cali because she literally moved the stuff out of the dome and to her bricks-andmortar place . What a success story ,” Zannotti said .
The second opportunity Crissup leveraged was the small business enhancement assistance provided in the downtown / campus link TIF district . The program provides financial assistance not to exceed 50 % of actual expenditure and up to $ 15,000 for exterior building improvements .
“ So of course , initially I didn ’ t understand that section of it ( TIF ). I actually applied with a full remodel of the store and everything that I was doing … and they had me redo the application for the TIF because it ’ s only for the exterior ,” Crissup said . At the time of writing , Crissup has received approval through the downtown / campus link review committee for her project and is awaiting approval from the Stillwater Economic Development Authority .
“ The goal is to turn this from looking like a commercial property to more like a house ’ s front porch . So it ’ ll have shiplap and double doors in the middle so that it ’ s more comforting and welcoming from the street ,” Crissup said . “ I want it to feel like your grandma ’ s living room , but not creepy … I want everything mismatched … since I worked with auctioneers , I actually have purchased a lot of the things that I ’ m using in the store from different auctions across the country . So it ’ s been cool to get to support the auctioneer ’ s that I work with every day in the industry .”
Crissup is in the final stretch of the remodel and has set June 1 , 2022 , as a target date to grand open Social 174 ’ s doors at 607 S . Main Street .
STORY BY Chris Peters chris @ stillwaternewspress . com
PHOTOS BY Comanche Spirit Photography and Social 174
Cali Crissup , owner of Social 174 , has a background in the auctioneering business . To furnish her brick-andmortar store , she acquired various items from auctions around the country .
“ The goal is to turn this from looking like a commercial property to … a house ’ s front porch .”
— CALI CRISSUP
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Social 174 will be the next business to leverage financial assistance from the TIF to create a welcoming facade for downtown shoppers .
STILLWATER OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE