Local business under new ownership

MARQUETTE — One of Marquette’s local businesses just underwent new ownership.

HOTplate’s in good hands because the new owner has a lot of passion and the experience with this type of craft and she is up for the challenge.

“Really excited about it, my undergraduate degree was in ceramics. I graduated from Northern with my B.F.A. in 2009 and then my M.B.A. in 2015,” said, Owner of HOTplate, Melissa Sprouse.

Not only is HOTplate going to keep its usual activities and services, but there will be some additions to the business as well.

“So we are actually bringing in raw clay, so we are going to have more hand building and wheel throwing. We just cleared out our space for our wheels, and I ordered my four wheels this morning so I’m excited that they will be here by the end of the week,” said Sprouse.

They are also going to be getting the public involved with the arts and host some fun events for the kids. You can also try out some new classes that they will be bringing to the store as well.

“We’ve been doing lots of different events. We have lots of different events coming up, so we have kid’s Night out on Friday. We have a family Easter egg hunt on Sunday so people can sign up for those, and all of our events are up on our face book page. We have a fuse glass lantern class which is really cool and there are only three spots left in that, and three spots in our clay canvas class. That’s on Wednesday and that’s really cool because you get to paint on a clay canvas,” said Sprouse.

So if you’re a fan of ceramics and or of HOTplate, be sure to check it out and see what it has to offer.