Downtown Delight
Ferris Wheel Kids Joins Carousel at the Lorenz Hotel…
Whimsical, playful and contemporary, the new Ferris Wheel Kids in downtown Redding’s historic Lorenz Hotel (named after original owner Susan Lorenz) is set to become the new happening hangout for young ones. It also keeps the women-owned business theme alive, with Ferris Wheel Kids being co-founded by Tara Lihn Faires and Suzanne Russell.
“This is one of the oldest buildings in Redding and was run and owned by a woman. When we got the lease, the manager of the building was excited women were running this,” says Faires.
The space on the corner of Yuba and California streets has gone through many iterations over the last few years, from being a photography studio to coffee shop to vintage clothing store. When Faires and Russell heard that the vintage clothing store was moving, they swooped in.
Russell had already been eyeing the corner space for years, as she runs the women’s clothing store Carousel on the adjacent corner of the Lorenz Hotel, on Yuba Street next to the food truck park.
Carousel women’s clothing store has been in existence since 2012, with Russell taking it over in 2016. She was working as a hairstylist when the former owner sat in her chair and told her she was retiring. Russell grew up in Redding, moved away, and when she came back, she felt like there was nowhere to shop for women’s clothing. “And I thought, I cannot live in a Redding without at Carousel. So, in 2016, I bought it,” Russell says.
In the last nine years she’s owned Carousel, she brought on Faires and fenced in the park next to the store to create a food truck area. “It changed everything,” she says about how that enhancement improved the safety and security of the area around the Lorenz Hotel. “I feel like this is my corner,” Russell adds.
However, the other corner of the hotel still hosted a revolving door of businesses. “I just wanted a solid neighbor every time the lease came up,” Russell adds. With Faires acting as shop manager of Carousel (and she used to be a purchaser at a kids’ store in San Francisco before she had her own kids), the timing presented the business partners with a unique opportunity.
“Some of my friends said I should open a kids’ toy store and call it Ferris Wheel,” Faires said, which is an obvious play on words. “And I had a weird freakish knowledge of kids’ stuff.”
Ferris Wheel Kids is partnering with Shop Around the Corner Books to offer kids storytime, and they plan to have a reverse happy hour on Saturday mornings with hot chocolate and book readings. “We want to give families something to do with their kids on the weekends,” Russell says.
“Everything in here kids can touch. The racks are lower so kids can shop for their own clothes, we have a play space, and we source things made in the USA that are high quality that you can’t find anywhere else,” Faires says. “We’re so close with things coming into downtown here, with the brewery about to open, the bakery, a grocer – we want to provide the family space where kids can come and play.”
Faires says her 4-year-old is excited about her opening a store built with him in mind. “He says, ‘Mama, I’m going to work for you. I’ll help people with the swords’, so I guess we need to get swords in. He says, ‘Are you gonna have stuffies? I’m going to love every single one of them and boop them all on the nose.’”
Russell also hopes Ferris Wheel Kids will instill certain values in her young toddler. “I want my kid to see us take risks, know it’s going to be OK, and see our work ethic. I want to show you can have fun, be passionate about what you do and love where you work,” she adds.
Faires is very involved with the Cascade Theatre, and says, “Being a theater kid, I have no fear talking to people and I very much relate to children. I love to play with cards, play dress-up. Suz and I are very different people, but we come together on things we’re passionate about. And thankfully kids just want to have fun and have lots of color in their lives.”
Russell smiles, adding, “I hope to own this corner for the next decades to come, I want it to be a family generational business. People talk about the old school stores like Sunflower Kids, and I want this to be a place people remember and come back to.” •
