Pantina Home prepares for September opening
By: Jessica Beym
Pantina Home a home furnishing store and the newest addition to Main Street’s business district is gearing up for a mid-September opening.
Owners Suellen Waters and her partner Jamie Sims, both of Red Bank, said that with the interior renovations to the building complete, the only work that is left is to set up and price the merchandise before they open their doors to the community.
The store, at 33 N. Main St., is the former site of Cranbury Paint and Hardware. It will have a variety of home furnishings such as bed and table linens, lamps, rugs, furniture and a number of decorative accents.
Stationery, candles, soaps and even a small selection of men and women’s clothing and accessories will also be sold.
As of last week, Ms. Waters said she was still receiving deliveries for all of the merchandise that would complete their store. Over the next week or so they planned to set up the displays, arrange the store and price all the items.
"All the renovations are complete but we have to get everything set up and that’s a big project in itself," Ms. Waters said.
Ms. Waters and Mr. Sims purchased the store in June 2005 from previous owner Rocco D’Armiento III after he and his family closed shop after almost 30 years.
The building’s history dates back to the 19th century, but since 1939 it had been used as a hardware store. When the D’Armientos bought the building, they expanded its space to its current size of 5,000 square feet, adding side and back rooms and a second-floor storage area.
Renovating the space to suit the new store’s motif has been challenging and exciting, Ms. Waters said. They began working on the building in April.
"It’s quite a transformation," Ms. Waters said. "We started by gutting everything, then of course all the mechanics had to be done new heating, new air conditioning, new electricity."
Ms. Waters said the fun part about the project was finding the original characteristics of the building that make it unique.
"We discovered one section with exposed brick, so we left it," Ms. Waters said. "It adds so much character to the building."
Ms. Waters said they gave the space a lot of charm, specifically by restoring the hardwood floors and painting the walls a neutral color so their colorful merchandise will stand out.
Even though they won’t be open for Cranbury Day, Ms. Waters said they plan to set up a table in front of the store to sell some of their merchandise and some items will also be on display in the window.
"That way we’ll be able to talk to people and hopefully meet a lot of people in Cranbury," Ms. Waters said.

