Open and shut: Sell or close? Owner of SpiceTopia in Ventura hopes for the former

When the founder of SpiceTopia announced on Facebook that he planned to close the Ventura business back in 2013, Ashley Pope took note of the community outcry and bought the place.

Now, she hopes someone will do the same for her.

"After six years, it's time for the next step," said Pope. "I really, really hope someone comes along who has the same creative ambition I did to run a fun business that is part of the community."

Pope's words echoed a Sept. 4 social-media post in which she made public her hopes to sell SpiceTopia. The business has played such a role in her life that the license plate on her Jeep reads "SPCGRL."

"I feel like I grew up along with the store," Pope, 29, said with a laugh.

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Pope said she has been contacted by several parties interested in the business. If a serious buyer fails to materialize, the plan is to close the doors around the end of the month.

In the meantime, a 25% discount is in effect for everything in the store, which specializes in locally made honey, jams, pickles and hot sauces in addition to spices, teas and infused salts and sugars. The latter are sold by the ounce.

Previously scheduled cooking classes will take place as planned, Pope said. They include "Cook Once, Eat All Week" with Lucinda Ramirez on Sept. 19 ($40) and "How to Cake Pop" with Denise Rangel of Dee's Savory Sweets, on Oct. 2 ($45). Call the store for required reservations.

As was the case for the store's founder, Pope's decision to sell or close was inspired by family. Gavin, her 6-year-old son with longtime boyfriend Carlos Hernandez, has autism. He started the first grade last month.

"We are his caretakers and, increasingly, his advocates," Pope said of Gavin, who was diagnosed around the time he turned 3.

As vice president on the board for Autism Society Ventura County, the local affiliate for Autism Society California, Pope recently created of a handbook for parents of children facing a new diagnosis of autism.

"We know so much more now, but there's still so much work to do. That's where I want to focus my efforts right now. Finding solutions," Pope said.

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SpiceTopia went by the hyphenated Spice-Topia when it debuted in October 2012 under founder Rob Bragenzer. He modeled the business on the spice bazaars he saw during trips to Istanbul.

When a family member living in another state fell ill less than a year later, Bragenzer decided to close the store. His Facebook post on the matter caused such an uproar that Pope, then a new mother who was working as a licensed optician and retail manager for LensCrafters, took the leap.

"You could tell from what people were saying that this store needed to be in the community," Pope told The Star during a meet-the-new-owner event in 2013.

Pope continued to work outside the store after the purchase, eventually taking a surgical sales job with a territory that stretched from Westlake Village to Paso Robles.

Then came Gavin's diagnosis. 

"I needed to stay local after that," said Pope. She dropped the traveling sales job in favor of her current post as membership development manager for the Ventura Chamber of Commerce. And she took on a partner, Aric Korcowicz, to help run the store behind the scenes as well as behind the sales counter.

"Some of our out-of-town customers know Aric so well that, when they see me in the store, they ask, 'Oh, are you new?' " Pope said.

Korcowicz recently moved to Los Angeles and agrees that the time has come to either pass the store on to new owners or close the doors, Pope said.

Under her watch in 2015, SpiceTopia won a $25,000 grant from the Wells Fargo Works Project, a national contest designed to help small businesses. Pope, a 2008 graduate of Buena High School who had a few Ventura College business classes to her credit, used the money – and the mentorship that came with it -– to launch a subscription-box service and to update the store's website to include an e-commerce element.

More recently, Pope introduced her own spice blends. The recipes come with the store.

Ventura Spice includes Pacific Ocean flake salt with a pinch of strawberry-infused sugar to denote the county's top crop. Two Trees features orange peel and brown mustard seed to denote plants growing in the hills around the Ventura landmark. Off the Avenue is named for Pope's own neighborhood just off Ventura Avenue. It includes cumin, chili powder and four colors of peppercorns "to celebrate the diversity of the Avenue," she said.

The store also stocks shakers of Garlic Gold nuggets made in Ventura, bottles of Ojai-based Char Man Brand hot sauces, nut-based spreads from Epic Spreads of Oxnard, small-batch jams and jellies from the licensed cottage-food operation Yes She Cans, and jars of Jalabeaños, Bread & Buddhas and Bloody Mary Elixirs from Pacific Pickle Works of Santa Barbara.

Soaps, bags of locally roasted coffee and ceramics and other works by local artists are also available.

"We work with over 40 local purveyors, local agriculture, local restaurants and lots of local residents," said Pope. "I'm super proud of all the businesses we've helped and that have played a role in the store's success."

SpiceTopia's hours are from 10 a.m. to 9 Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays through Fridays (576 E. Main St., 805-628-3267, https://spice-topia.com).

Elsewhere in VENTURA, an electrical fire has temporarily closed Seaward Sushi two months after its most recent comeback. Owner Rachel Woodward said damage from the Aug. 28 event was limited to a control panel attached to the water heater but still opened a Pandora's box of issues. 

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"The big question everyone is discussing is whether to keep (the) water heater and repair it or put in a new water heater along with new electrical boxes. We (are) stuck ... in limbo waiting for everyone to agree so we can re-open," Woodward said. "Insurance says days but we are supposed to be prepared for weeks." 

Woodward and sushi chef Shane Jones opened the restaurant in December after nearly three years of start-and-stop renovations.

They briefly closed it for two weeks in June, reopening only after receiving a temporary-use permit from the city to go with the restaurant's state-issued beer and wine license. A limited lunch menu was launched just weeks ago.

For updates, check the Seaward Sushi website and Facebook page, or take a peek through the windows the next time you're in the neighborhood (34 S. Seaward Ave., 805-628-9070, http://www.seawardsushi.com). 

In CAMARILLO, the plot thickens at Qué Pasa Mexican Cafe at 2433 Ventura Blvd. in Old Town Camarillo. 

The restaurant closed in July after 18 months of business. But marketing efforts –including social-media posts that describe the Bakersfield-based chain's Camarillo location as open – have left would-be patrons wondering why the doors are perpetually locked.

Papers currently taped to those doors clear things up, sort of. Bearing the words "summons," "unlawful detainer" and "eviction," the two-page document states that Que Pasa Mexican Cafe, Inc., is being sued by Camarillo Old Town Investors, LLC. Stay tuned.

In OXNARD, Vineyard Cafe debuted Tuesday at what used to be Baja Fresh Mexican Grill in the Topa Plaza Business Park.

Owner Bobby Kazem kept the black-and-white checkerboard floor and the halo of lights that once shone down on the salsa bar. He added red-and-black chairs, a bright green banquette that runs the length of the room (including the spot once occupied by the salsa bar) and an Instagram-ready wall covered in rows of flowers.

The menu focuses on breakfast and lunch items served all day.

Omelettes ($13.99 to $15.99) come with a choice of hash browns, red potatoes or buttermilk pancakes. Breakfast-themed combos include a spinach scramble ($10.99), biscuits and gravy with two eggs, potatoes and sausages ($13.99), a pastrami Benedict ($13.99) and steak and eggs with potatoes and toast or pancakes ($18.99). French toast, waffles, crepes and pancakes are also available.

Sandwiches range from a Philly cheesesteak ($13.99) to a Beyond Burger ($14.99). Salads include a "fresh cut big bowl of fruit and cottage cheese" ($7.99) and a grilled chicken avocado salad ($12.99).

Dinner entrees like chicken poblano ($14.99), pork chops ($15.99) and New York steak and shrimp ($19.99) include soup or salad and a choice of two sides.

The restaurant's beer and wine license is expected to take effect in a couple of weeks.

Hours are from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 6 a.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays (2340 E. Vineyard Ave., Unit A-3, 805-485-5595).

In WESTLAKE VILLAGE, the aptly named West Village Café & Grill opened this week in the North Ranch Gateway address vacated by Teko's Brazilian Grill in late 2017.

The new restaurant serves skewer combinations ($15.99 to $22.99), grilled veggie souvlaki ($11.99), grilled lamb chops ($15.99), bowls ($14.99 to $18.99), chicken orzo pasta salad ($11.99) and falafel salad ($12.99), among other dishes. Lavazza Coffee is available. Dessert options include pistachio-saffron ice cream and pastries from Porto's Bakery. 

Hours are in flux. Call before you go (30869 Thousand Oaks Blvd., 818-532-7218, https://westvillagecafe.net).

Lisa McKinnon is a staff writer for The Star. To contact her, send email to lisa.mckinnon@vcstar.com.