Taking Flight – Alaceus Lands in Downtown Lock Haven
By Christopher Miller
The fourth quarter of 2020 has been very good to the downtown Lock Haven area with the grand opening of nearly a half dozen new stores. Adding to the mix of variety comes Alaceus, a men’s store for the 21st century.
Alaceus, (pronounced a-lay-see-us), is the brainchild of recent Lock Haven University graduate and Mechanicsburg, PA native Mohamed Ahamed-Ahrar. Alaceus is also the name of a Greek demi-God who was a son of Zeus and had the power of flight.
Upon graduating in 2020 Mohamed found himself in a unique predicament: attempt to find a job in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, or create one for himself. “I used to help my father in his businesses before he immigrated to the United States…he had a hardware store and a convenience store and ran both businesses…we flip-flopped stores and that’s where I learned about inventory, cash-flow, and how to manage a business,” Mohamed said.
“My parents who now work very hard in a warehouse setting outside of Harrisburg gave me the inspiration to do better for them, and the people around them,” Mohamed stated. “I want to give my dad the opportunity to see that we have no barriers here as to what we can establish.”
The strong work ethic that Mohamed has today is apparent in the experiences that he had growing up and observing his parents working hard to make a good life in the United States. This opened up another great opportunity for Mohamed after graduating from college: open his own business.
“It started when I came to the college, I wanted to dress like a college student, and what I found at Walmart just wasn’t cutting it,” he said. “With the malls being so far away as they are, I saw an opportunity to give this gift of mine to the local area.”
With the recent renaissance of small business openings just beginning downtown, Mohamed decided it would be the perfect time to open a men’s fashion store centered around the likes and tastes of local youth and young adults. “Being isolated due to COVID-19 regulations, I started to make plans fo rmyself and how I would want to create this vision I have for a business in our downtown,” Mohamed stated.
During the early days of 2021 Mohamed can be found running around town and his new store beginning to fill it with tasteful merchandise galore. Stocking the essentials from jeans, hats, shirts, and high-end brands, Mohamed is making these items more affordable for his customers. “Most of the shirts I carry will be under the $25 range, making them as affordable as I can with brands such as Adidas, Nike, Aero and a limited stock of the brand Off-White.
Like what many small businesses are doing today, Mohamed reached out to “the crowd” for help in their recommendations of what to carry. “I received a great response for flannel, so I will have plenty of that in stock too,” Mohamed said. “I just want to be able to give people what they want to wear.”
In a climate when “online orders” rule, and would work, Mohamed says that he prefers to have an in-person shopping experience. “Because of late arrival shipping times, my customers, including myself, are concerned…I want my customers to get a feel for the product, and to see it “in hand” to create a sense of bond with the store.”
As a final thought, Mohamed wishes to make it known that if anyone feels inspired to start a business, they should just go ahead and do it. “It takes work, and is hard, but satisfying and rewarding – this is a perfect time to do it, and you can do so much,” Mohamed said.
Alaceus is located at 108 East Main Street in downtown Lock Haven. No official grand opening has been scheduled as printing of this article, but store hours will be from 11am to 6pm, Monday – Saturday.
