New grocery coming to the Rose District

A new concept, District Mercantile, is coming to the Rose District at 224 S. Main St., an idea that's been a long time in the making.

"I'm super excited about this because when I arrived in Broken Arrow seven years ago, the Council and upper management's vision for the Rose District was to create a downtown lifestyle," said Brent Brassfield, City of Broken Arrow Business Retention & Development Coordinator. "You need all these great shops, restaurants, and bars, which we have, but you also need goods and services, and that's one thing we did not have."

District Mercantile is a neighborhood market that will offer a grab-and-go deli, light groceries, and locally sourced products, including cheeses, eggs, produce, honey, and fresh-roasted coffee from Wanderlust Roastery, formerly Rise Grind & Ride Espresso Cafe. The building will house two concepts: one side will be the mercantile, and the other will be the Wanderlust Coffee Roastery.

"The light grocery option fills a void in our downtown and is a walkable solution for quick conveniences for not only residents but visitors and downtown employees in the district as well," Brassfield said.

The prime downtown property had been vacant and boarded up for nearly four years after Spoke House Bicycles and the Rattlesnake Café left.

"Filling the building and completing construction have presented several challenges for various reasons," Brassfield said.

The Broken Arrow Economic Development Authority signed an agreement with Randall Ryan, owner of Rise, Grind & Ride, LLC, to bring the District Mercantile to the South Main Street location. The agreement presents an opportunity to transform a long-dormant building into a welcoming, vibrant center of commerce and community activity worthy of the award-winning Rose District.

The project will generate new sales tax revenue, create jobs, increase pedestrian activity, strengthen downtown vitality, and expand the Rose District's retail portfolio. It will also remove a long-standing eyesore and replace it with an active, productive business that enhances the district's appeal and economic performance.

Rise, Grind & Ride, LLC submitted an incentive application seeking cost-share funding to rehabilitate the vacated retail property. The proposed project includes renovations to the 2,200-square-foot commercial space, with a total investment of approximately $255,310, to be paid upfront by Rise, Grind & Ride.

Once the renovations are completed and District Mercantile opens, the City of Broken Arrow will reimburse Rise, Grind & Ride up to $80,000. This reimbursement is intended to cover 100 percent of the city permitting and inspection fees associated with the project and up to 50 percent of the renovation of the commercial building's physical aspects. Costs for equipment or intellectual property are not included in this agreement and are not eligible for reimbursement by the city.

"I want to reiterate, the recommendation from the staff is focusing on the improvements that would remain with the building, which is consistent with the decisions previous Councils have made with regard to public-private partnerships," City Manager Michael Spurgeon said at the July 14, 2026, Broken Arrow Economic Development Authority meeting.

Brassfield described the owner, Randall Ryan, as a "hometown success story" who started his coffee business at the Rose District Farmers Market.

"Randall is really the perfect person to make it go, and we started talking two to three years ago about this type of project," Brassfield said. "He has a great track record, and he's one of the hardest-working people I know."

Ryan opened the current Rise, Grind & Rise at the north end of the Rose District seven years ago and has since outgrown the space.

"I actually started 11 years ago at the Rose District Farmers Market selling cups of coffee, just building the brand from the ground up," Ryan said.

He says once COVID hit, people started paying more attention to what they were buying, who they were buying from, and what they were eating, and his business continued to grow.

Economic Development Director Travis Stephens spoke about the need for an Economic Development Agreement to make the nearly 100-year-old property useful again before the Economic Development Authority's July 14 vote.

"As previously mentioned, this property has been vacant for quite a while, and the investment required to get this space back to operational is cost-prohibitive at this point," Stephens said. "We've had a couple of close calls that actually turned into messes. So, that's why we feel an economic development agreement is justifiable in this case. Otherwise, we may still be looking at plywood for quite some time."

Ryan had even considered leasing the space a few years ago.

"It went in favor of somebody else, but it didn't go through," Ryan said. "We actually signed our lease in April, and we've been working behind the scenes since then."

District Mercantile is expected to open for business in early November.

Brassfield says as the city continues to grow, Broken Arrow maintains its customer service-oriented approach.

"We try to provide the kind of customer service found in a smaller town as we're growing, even though we're becoming a bigger city as our population grows," Brassfield said. "I've been here seven years, and I can see a vast improvement as we become more business-friendly. That's a big part of it. You have to move at the speed of business, and we are continuing to get better at that."

Brassfield credits the City Council for having the vision to do what was necessary to fill this vacancy and overcome its challenges.

"Sometimes a public-private partnership can really spur something that the community not only greatly desires but also needs," Brassfield concluded.