Rhoden Restoration opens under the Rhoden Roofing umbrella

May 15, 201310:05 a.m.

WICHITA – John Rhoden and Brett Olivier are starting a new company under the Rhoden Roofing umbrella.

Rhoden Restoration will offer restoration and cleaning services for flooding situations.

“We partnered up together,” says Olivier, who first met Rhoden in kindergarten.

Olivier says regardless of the reason for flooding — it could be from a backed-up sewer or sump pump or maybe from a storm — Rhoden Restoration will be able to handle it.

“We’ll go in there and extract all the water. Basically get it dry.”

Olivier says there’s a great need for restoration services in the Wichita area.

“There’s a big market share there,” he says.

“We just felt like there was a need to do that and not chase storms,” he says referring to the roofing business.

Rhoden Roofing does some work around Kansas, but Olivier says it doesn’t generally go to other states following storms.

With Rhoden Restoration, Olivier says the idea is “just take care of a lot of the local people here.”

The company is behind Havertys near 21st and Rock Road in the same office at Rhoden Roofing.

Olivier is a former American Family Insurance agent

“That experience has helped on the other side of doing the claims process.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , Filed under New business | Comments

Invio Fine Furniture Consignment to expand

Oct. 11, 20125:00 a.m.

WICHITA — For the second time in less than six months — and the third time in less than two years — Invio Fine Furniture Consignment is expanding.

Andrea and Eric Johnsen are adding another 1,250 square feet to their furniture consignment shop in the strip center behind Havertys on Rock Road for a total of 3,750 square feet.

“It’s just really grown,” Andrea Johnsen says of the business, which started in Diva Furniture a couple of doors down.

Invio expanded into its own space in October 2011 and most recently expanded again in May.

Johnsen says her store is doing so well, she could probably handle 8,000 square feet, but she’d rather “take a baby step.”

Consignment is popular right now with customers who have unwanted furniture pieces, Johnsen says.

“They don’t want to just give them away.”

She says when customers come in to consign their furniture, “they end up purchasing as well.”

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , Filed under East side, Real estate, Retail | Comments Off

Invio Fine Furniture Consignment expands and Cohlmia Interiors opens at center behind Havertys on Rock Road

Oct. 12, 20114:52 a.m.

UPDATED — The strip center behind Havertys on Rock Road has inadvertently become something of a design center.

“Yeah, it’s kind of neat,” owner Steve Clark says. He considers the center at 1719 N. Rock something of “an incubator for small businesses.”

“It has evolved into a little design center there.”

Diva Furniture is at the north end of the center, and Invio Fine Furniture Consignment, which has been located within Diva, is now moving to its own 1,200-square-foot space two doors down.

“We have an option to expand over here,” Invio owner Andrea Attwater says. “I’d love to double our space.”

For now, she still has 1,000 square feet within Diva to sell some of her more high-end pieces.

The new space is open during construction. Attwater plans to have an open house Oct. 20.

“That’s my goal, to be all painted and ready.”

JK Design also is located within the Diva space.

Budget Blinds is between Diva and Invio.

Different Perspectives Photography, a photography studio, is on the other side of Invio’s new storefront.

On the other side of that, Jeff Cohlmia has opened Cohlmia Interiors in 2,400 square feet.

That’s substantially smaller than the 8,300-square-foot Home Gallery by Cohlmia he used to have near Central and Woodlawn.

“We have basically the same manufacturers, but we are showing some things that are less expensive but still in the same quality range,” Cohlmia says. “We’re happy to be open again, and we hope to see everyone.”

Attwater is happy for the unplanned design center.

“It’s kind of fun,” she says.

As Clark says, “It’s always good to have some synergistic uses in a property like that.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Filed under East side, Real estate, Retail | Comments Off