In April of 2024, Rob and Nicki Gray purchased the building at 51 S. 3rd in Lake Andes. The building was bought with the intent to allow Nicki and her daughters a place to chase their dreams and afford them each a place to start out their businesses. Nicki and her daughters had always talked about pipe dreams and retirement plans before the purchase of this building. They all wanted to do different types of small businesses, but with living in a small town, it could be daunting to drop a big investment into a business dream. She and her daughters brainstormed and wondered if there was a place that would allow them to all have their separate businesses and still be in the same location. Gray Wolf Plaza became that place to start all of their dreams.

For Nicki’s daughters, Samantha Frederick and Hayli Gray, this building will provide an opportunity for them to begin a bakery. It has always been a dream of Sam and Hayli's to open their own bakery, but living in a small town they knew that there was no feasible way that a bakery alone could support two families, especially starting out. Sam not only will be a part of the bakery, but she is also moving her salon, Wicked Hair and Fashion, to the building as well. The new space will still allow her to do hair and massages as well as in her slow times during the day, bake her specialties which are muffins and cookies. The salon should be up and running within the next month or so. For Hayli, having this space will allow her to continue to work her full-time job to support her family as well as allow her to chase her cake shop dreams. Hayli specializes in cupcakes and cakes. The building will also provide a space for the Gray’s daughter, Madisyn, who recently took up quilting and needed a bigger space for her quilting machine to work on her projects. As for Nicki, she will use a space for her embroidery and sewing hobby, which when she eventually retires will hopefully turn into a full-time business. Having a space at Gray Wolf Plaza will give their daughters as well as Nicki herself a space to grow their dreams as well as flexibility while being able to be around one another.

The intent of the Grays when purchasing this building was never to make a lot of money off of it. Their hope is that the building will be able to sustain itself without any big investments from any of the owners or tenants. When the family started to think of reasons why they bought the property, they realized that there were probably a lot of people who would like to be entrepreneurs with small business dreams but maybe had hurdles of being scared to take the risk, could not afford it financially or just could not find any property available. The Grays decided that they wanted to offer a place where people from the community could test the waters when it came to their business adventures without having the huge investments or risks. The building has several offices that would serve as perfect pop-up shops and small starter businesses. With a month-to-month type of lease, it makes the whole process much less risky. The Grays are perfectly happy with it being a building with businesses coming and going as needed for the individuals. They would love to see businesses that begin in their building become so successful that they outgrow the space and leave to expand into the Lake Andes community.

The work in the building is being mainly done by the Grays, as time permits. They have been very fortunate not to have to rely on contractors to do any of the work. Though doing it themselves, any remodeling or renovations have been a slow process. Currently, their biggest project is getting the salon area remodeled. There will have to be water and sewer added to the south side of the building. They are also painting and updating the kitchen that was already in there, with some of their new tenants painting their own spaces as well as putting in new flooring.

After talking to some tenants and potential tenants, Nicki feels that the building will evolve into a place of creativity and have an artsy vibe. The building currently has or will have all ground floor spaces occupied, but there are still 15 available spaces upstairs. Nicki said that they are hoping to keep one of the center rooms upstairs unoccupied so that it can be used for classes, sewing/crafting groups, and any other kind of events.

With the purchase of the building also came the inheriting of Lewis and Clark Behavioral Health service out of Yankton that rent several offices in the building. As far as new businesses, there will be a beauty shop, barber shop (which should also be up and running next month) and bakery for sure as of now. There are several other potential people looking at spaces in the building. Some ideas that have been brought up are an Indian Trading Post shop that would sell beading supplies and gifts; a tattoo parlor; art studio; and a tanning bed. These are all just ideas as of right now.

At this point, there is no grand opening set to take place. As the holiday season approaches it is anticipated that there will be pop up shops on Saturdays in the building. As far as what kinds of businesses Nicki would like to see in the building, she is very open to pretty much anything. She has had people inquire about renting a space just to keep their collectibles such as coins or baseball cards, which she is absolutely open to. The Grays understand that not everyone’s homes are big enough to house all of their hobbies and collectibles, so these spaces could almost be a man cave or a she shed.

When asked why Nicki wanted to buy and create this business in Lake Andes, Nicki said that she was raised here, moving to Lake Andes when she was three years old. Her family has a legacy of being a part of the Lake Andes community with her mom being raised in Lake Andes and graduating from Lake Andes High School as well as her Grandpa Nick owning several businesses in town. Growing up in Lake Andes, Nicki can remember how many businesses there were and is sad to see so many of them gone. Her husband, Rob, was born and raised in Lake Andes as well as all of their children. The Grays want to do what they can in order to see the Lake Andes community keep going and growing. The Grays enjoy being a part of the Lake Andes community because everyone knows and supports each other as well as having a majority of their family living within walking distance of each other. Nicki would really like to see more growth in the community with both homes being built and new businesses being added.

Congratulations and thank you to the Grays for wanting to continue to grow the community as well as investing in a space for other local entrepreneurs to start their businesses.