- May 3, 2024
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Patrons enjoy a night out with friends while creating their own masterpiece.
Wayne Grant
News Editor
A new business has opened at 154 W. Granada that promises to add an entertainment option to the downtown.
Masterpiece Mixers is a “paint and party” studio where groups and couples create a painting while enjoying a snack and beverage that they bring from home. Beer and wine can be enjoyed, thanks to a zoning change made by the City Commission last month at the request of franchise owner Krista Goodrich.
Goodrich said people who have never even drawn a stick figure are amazed when they find what they can do when following step-by-step instructions.
“People think art is so hard, but they find out they can do it, ” she said. “They take a picture of their painting and post it. They are so proud of it.”
But the point is to have an entertaining night out. She said it’s not fine art, it’s fun art, and compares it to bowling.
“Am I going to become a professional bowler? No,” she said. “I’m going to have fun with friends.”
But some people who paint regularly also enjoy the classes.
April Nugent, of Ormond Beach, said she had attended similar classes at Memorial Art Museum on East Granada Boulevard, and went with some friends to the Grand Opening of Masterpiece Mixers. She went again the next week.
“It was wonderful,” she said. “I came out with a good painting. You get good instruction and the materials were good.’
‘There was nothing else to do’
Goodrich started her first Masterpiece Mixer in Braselton, Georgia. She asked a company if she could start a franchise, but they said Braselton was too small. So, she opened her own business in 2009 and it was a big hit.
“There was nothing else to do in Braselton,” she said. “If there was a birthday party in town, it was at my place.”
Later, a person told her they wanted to open a franchise of Masterpiece Mixers. First, Goodrich told her, she’d have to find out how franchises operate. The rest is history. Goodrich now owns 10 franchises in several states.
Backdoor town
She leases a building that was renovated by Highlander Corp., which also remodeled 31 on the Boulevard, The Grind and Ormond Garage, among others.
She said one thing that she has learned about the boulevard is that people use the back doors of businesses, because that’s where the parking is.
Even at her establishment, people were asking to leave out the back, so she is going to make it more of an entrance/exit.
Because of this, the street is much busier than people might think, she believes
She said The Grind “is awesome” but from the front looks like a dark restaurant. And Hulls Seafood is always busy but you don’t know because the parking is in back.
She believes her business will do well.
“If you build it, they will come,” she said. “Maybe not right away, but eventually.”
She has a house on the beachside just across the border in Daytona Beach and will be operating the local business with a co-owner who will arrive in June. Originally from Florida, Goodrich’s family moved to Georgia when she was 7, but would come to Daytona Beach for vacation.
“I have a lot of memories here,” she said.
The business is rewarding for her, especially when someone’s “inner Picasso” comes out.
An older lady came in once at another location and didn’t have a lot to say during the class. It seemed like she was “dragged in” by her daughters. After the class, she came up to Goodrich and gave her hug. She said that the painting class was the “best thing she ever did for herself and she’d never been so proud.”
Call 871-4991 or on Facebook visit Masterpiece Mixers Ormond Beach.
