life
ENCOUNTERS
Gone Country
RUBY TUESDAY LOCATION GETS WESTERN MAKEOVER. BY OLIVIA DESMIT · PHOTOS BY L.G. PATTERSON
N
ewly branded Fringe
— but we don’t know anything different.”
location began last year, but because of
Western Wear owners
As a family-owned business, the
Riley Arends, Morgan
team of women decided it was time to
to both Arends’s and Pingel’s families
Pingel and Charlotte Smarr
broaden their brand. “We were looking to
— the expansion got put on the back
are expanding their western-inspired
expand because we wanted more room,
burner, Pingel says. Just before she and
boutique to offer a wider range of apparel
and more parking for our customers,”
her sister had their babies, the possibility
— and boots, of course — at what used to
Pingel says. “Plus, we wanted to own our
of purchasing the old Ruby Tuesday
be the Ruby Tuesday by Bass Pro Shops.
own building that we could build and
location popped up.
Arends, Pingel and Smarr are not only business partners; they’re family.
renovate to our needs.”
high building costs — and new additions
“Although it’s a little out of the way
“We really liked being downtown —
compared to downtown,” Pingel says,
Arends and Pingel are sisters, and Smarr
The District is an amazing community
“it has ample parking and we like that
is their mother. “Our parents own several
— so it was a really hard decision for
it’s next to Bass Pro Shops and Menards.
businesses in Columbia, so we’ve all
us. Our downtown location had great
We’re hoping people out shopping and
worked together in some sense my entire
foot traffic, especially during sorority
working on home improvement projects
life,” Pingel says. “It’s just second nature
moms’ weekends and MU football game
will swing in and see us.
to us to work within our family. There are
weekends,” she says.
crazy times to it — it has its pros and cons
34 INSIDE COLUMBIA SEPTEMBER 2021
The search for land to build a new
“This location makes us become a little more of a destination. Rather than
