Upscaling Reno with The Basement

The Basement is a new and trendy underground marketplace in Reno that is helping to upscale an older city. Reno is known for being a small casino town because it attracts gamblers to its many casinos and hotels. However, in the past couple of years, Reno has been evolving away from the casino town stereotype and towards becoming a more trendy and upscale city. Unlike before, you can now find trendy organic food restaurants, juice bars and retail stores. And now, with the opening of The Basement only a year ago, the trendy shops and juice bars can be found all in one place.

The Basement is a unique, underground venue located in midtown Reno. Originally a Speakeasy located under the Reno Post Office, it is now a place for anyone who is seeking the trendiest and cutting edge concepts of a modern marketplace. Keeping the original structure of the Speakeasy, The Basement is filled with a combination of retail stores and places to grab food and drinks. In addition to stores, The Basement has a common area with several tables, chairs and couches available to hang out. Like an Internet café, there are plenty of outlets allowing the patrons to plug in their computers or phones. This is a great location to do some shopping, eat some food, do homework, have study groups or just hang out with friends. The Basement welcomes tourists, college students, local business people, and Reno residents with the purpose of creating a community feeling.

“The Basement creates a community, honestly, people are always here hanging out, it helps bring people together to relax, study, or meet people,” said Kallista Brown, an employee at RAWBRY Juice Bar.

The Basement lies beneath the historic 1933 U.S. Post Office and even though the downstairs has been renovated into a marketplace, it is preserving as much of the original structure as possible. A skin and body product store, Pantry Products, is located in the original vault room of the Post Office. With its high ceilings and concrete walls, it is a historical place to shop. Features like these are unique and add to the intrigue of the underground marketplace. You can see footage of the original basement of the Post Office by going to thebasementreno.com.

“It used to be a Speakeasy, a secret place, but now it is being revealed and making a focal point of downtown Reno - a little glimpse of the new downtown Reno along with the Riverwalk and its trendy restaurants and shops. It is unique and people are attracted to unique and different”, said Adam Sayre, the owner of Nevada Tahoe Love, one of the boutiques in The Basement, “And we are excited to be part of this new movement.”

The Basement’s objective is to give its visitors many options with some of the vendors being the RAWBRY Juice Bar, Kalifornia Jean Bar, The Botanical Flower Bar, Sugar Love Chocolates, Pantry Products, and also a barbershop.

“Our name reflects our objective “Love” and we offer styles capturing our love for Tahoe and Nevada. We have a unique brand catering to locals and out-of-towners and we are a one of a kind retail store, the only branch, unique and trendy. I think we bring new, trendy and exciting to downtown Reno,” said Adam.

While interviewing the employees, they would use words such, “rad” and “edgy” to describe The Basement. The people who were interviewed about The Basement and how it is affecting the city, were looking forward to the transformation in Reno.

“It’s a new effect on downtown, it changes the game because there is only one other juice bar in town and it’s a chain standing alone on the street and we are a private boutique juice bar in a really cool environment, which is a trending concept right now,” said Kallista Brown, an employee of RAWBRY.

Open less than a year, The Basement is getting great reviews on Yelp and one customer wrote, “This place is a Diamond in the Rough!”

Michelle Czarka, owner of Pantry Products said, “Having a store in The Basement is great and I am looking forward to seeing it grow.”

Going forward, The Basement intends on expanding on their plan and putting in a Big Theater for entertainment such as stand up comedy and films. Their objective is to provide a creative and collective space for people to hang out and enjoy themselves. Check out The Basement, it’s the new and upcoming place to be.

To find more information on The Basement, visit www.thebasementreno.com

addendum

thebasementreno.com

“Travel Statistics for Reno Tahoe.” Travel Statistics for Reno Tahoe. Reno Tahoe U.S.A., n.d. Web. 06 May 2016.

Stone, Will. “The Changing Face of Renos Downtown and Its Small Business Community.” Kunr.org. N.p., 12 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

Photo Credentials

Julia McAlonan May 1. 2016

Interviews

“The Basement Kallista Brown.” Interview by Julia McAlonan. 25 Apr. 2016: n. pag. Print.

Kallista Brown. RAWBRY phone number: 1–775–384–3468

“The Basement Adam Sayre.” Interview by Julia McAlonan. 23 Apr. 2016: n. pag. Print.

Adam Sayre. Kalifornia Jean Bar in The Basement #: 1–775–357–8023

“The Basement Michelle Czarka.” Interview by Julia McAlonan. 29 Apr. 2016: n. pag. Print.

Michelle Czarka by email: pantryproductsnv@gmail.com