On Tuesday, Brandon Corey, House of Ink-Kinston owner and Downtown Kinston Revitalization Board member teamed up with Liz and Chuck Hengst, the Mockingbird Books property owner to improve the appearance of the Mockingbird property. They also partnered with Sherwin-Williams Paints, Blizzard Building Supply, Leon Steele, and United of Winterville. The building was pressured washed, the front was painted, and temporary shutters were added. 

Corey pitched the idea of making improvements to the facade of the building to the Hengsts. Through the community, they were able to accumulate the materials and labor to get the project started. They hope this project will inspire other businesses to make improvements to downtown Kinston. “Let’s use this as an initiative to see if we can get other downtown businesses and storefronts to follow suit,” said Corey. 

“Our main goal and focus is just to try to bring some life to downtown, try to get more people interested in fixing it up, and bring businesses back to Queen St.,” said Hengst.