DOWAGIAC — A new business is giving a once-vacant building a new, artistic lease on life.

Here 4-U recently opened its doors at 57365 M-51 S., Dowagiac in the former Advanced Chiropractic building. Owned by Brea Sipla, the business aims to creatively meet the needs of community members through its “sip ‘n paint” events while providing notary, mending and hemming and consignment services. Here 4-U also sells cleaners and detergents.

Born and raised in Dowagiac, Sipla and her husband lived in Chicagoland for 10 years before moving back to the area to be near her father. After noticing the building was still vacant, Sipla decided to take the plunge and become a business owner.

“I’ve always loved the structure of this building. We drove by one day and the building was still vacant. My husband said go ahead and call about it,” she said. “Business has done pretty good so far. I’m happy with it.”

Sipla typically hosts one sip ‘n paint event each week, with the subject usually inspired by seasons and holidays. She said she was inspired to pursue painting after taking a painting class. To date, the activities have included wine bottle painting, DIY pen crafting, wine bottle stoppers and painting Ghostface from the “Scream” movie series. In the future, Sipla hopes to host children’s crafting activities as well as activities for the mentally disabled.

“I like to start them like a month and a half in advance of the holiday,” she said. “With gifts you need a little bit of time to start thinking about what you’re going to be decorating and people usually decorate a month in advance.”

Sipla has years of sewing and mending after first being introduced to it during her 4-H days.

“My sister and I were just very tiny,” she said. “My mom would go ahead and sew us matching outfits. Through the years, I just always kind of mended this and mended that and hemmed up some things.”

Sipla aims to make full use of the spacious building. There are currently rooms available to rent for vendor booths as well as space for consignment. “With the access to the main road and the great parking, we’re hoping we can fill up this building.”

Here 4-U is open from 10 a.m. 6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, for more information regarding services or to sign up for events, contact Here 4-U at (269) 363-2044 or visit its Facebook Page “Here 4-U.”