One of New Bern’s newest businesses is pleased to welcome visitors to its grand opening event for this weekend.
Jenna’s Just-In Boutique and “Bites on a Board” will be holding the event at 2027 S. Glenburnie Rd, beginning at 10:00 am on Saturday, November 5th.
“We’ve had so much great feedback on this new concept for New Bern from Sip, Eat, & Shop,” said Jenna Gifford.
The shop and the restaurant are festively decorated. There will be live Christmas music by local musician Luke Clark & Guest. Santa will also be there and ready to take photos.
“The restaurant will be open serving charcuterie, beer, wine, prosecco and most importantly, morning mimosas!” said Gifford. “Our stores are totally packed and ready for the holiday spirit. These local women/veterans owned businesses want you to see this Saturday and if you haven’t seen all we have to offer, don’t miss out.”
The first 50 customers in line (18+ only) will receive a free bag of gifts and coupons from both companies. Visitors can also enter to win a $200 BOGG BAG giveaway filled with goodies from both stores.
Gifford has expanded Jenna’s Just-In Boutique & More, expanding the store to 6000 square feet.
In addition to expanding its offering, the store will now include Bites on a Board, an in-house restaurant that offers customers one-stop shopping and dining options. It is the only business in the county not named Harris Teeter that offers shoppers this unique experience.
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“We’re really trying to make this a one-stop shop in Uptown New Bern,” Gifford said. “We wanted to create something different for New Bern that would cater to each and every person in the family,” she said in a previous Sun Journal article.
The boutique opened in February at 2027 S. Glenburnie Road. It used to be in Jan’s Hallmark Shop, which is in the same mall. The store specializes in Pandora merchandise such as necklaces, bracelets, and charms. They also offer branded clothing and accessories such as Bogg Bags, Teleties, Couture Tee, Oventure, Girlie Girl Originals, Sassyfrass Tees, Candy Club, Cloister Honey, Holiball, other fashion jewelry and apparel, gifts, home decor and more.
With the expansion, the store will now have a men’s department with clothing, personal care and gifts, a kids and baby department, a local department with gifts branded with local New Bern neighborhoods, a pet department with organic pet treats, pet toys, pet gifts and fun accessories and a clothing and drinks department with a variety of styles.
Cards and gift wrap will also be available. Additionally, they will be working with White Farms in Vanceboro to offer homemade jams and jarred produce.
The store is significantly expanding its clothing range with sizes from extra small to 3XL and adding more fashion accessories and jewellery. There will be a wedding area with traditional gifts for the bride and groom, a wedding party, gifts for bachelor and bachelorette parties and a box of gourmet chocolates and sweets.
Try it, buy one
As an added bonus, Bites on a Board will also be embedded in the store. Owned by Stacy Rhinehart and Colleen Iacch, the restaurant offers treats such as charcuterie platters, a selection of gourmet cheeses, meats, seasonal fruits and vegetables, nuts and crackers. They plan to sell beer, prosecco and wine.
They offer special order dishes like Mediterranean brunch bites and smores board along with other specialties which can be found on their website. Daily specials featuring small bites, salads, street tacos, wine pairings and small sandwiches will be available soon.
The restaurant will also teach “Courmet Classes” and provide accommodation for groups wishing to host meetings, adult birthday parties, baby showers and specialty classes at the venue. Both Jenna’s Just-In and Bites on a Board can come together to host private events and shopping trips. It has an indoor seating area for 30 people and an outdoor seating area for 12 people.
“We’ve been working hard on our expansion and are very excited to be working with Jenna on her expanded boutique,” said Iacch. “We’ve had a great response from many of our customers from both the restaurant and Jenna’s Just-In-Boutique. We are particularly excited about the fact that we are the first store in a store in Craven County.”
An idea new to New Bern
The owners said the idea for their company came about in response to COVID-19. Both owners relocated to New Bern from larger cities and missed the various restaurants that were offered up north.
“We were friends and we talked about what we could do,” Iacch said. “We wanted to bring something new and different to New Bern,” added Rhinehart. “We knew it was a difficult time for everyone and decided that we could make the boards and drop them off or customers could pick them up and we could still keep that social distance.”
The business grew through word of mouth and through her social media like Instagram and Facebook. Then in March 2021 they launched their website, bitesonaboard.net.
“Personally, retail therapy is one of my favorite things to do,” Gifford said. “The fact that we can do shopping therapy and have a cocktail at the same time is going to be a cool thing in New Bern. We really don’t have a lot of places that the whole family can fit in upstate New Bern. Now everyone can come in and hang out, listen to music, shop and eat in one place.”
Jenna’s Just-In Boutique is extending its opening hours to Sundays. The opening hours are Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. For more information about the boutique, call 252-631-2636 or visit online at jennabu.com.
The restaurant is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 to 18:00. For more information about the restaurant, call 252-631-2195 or visit us bitesonaboard.net.
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