With two new businesses set to open on Main Street before summer, it is becoming a go-to place for young entrepreneurs to spread their wings.

Already Element Cafe opened on Main Street and Focus Fitness on East Cunningham Street last month. Butler Brew Works is slated to open a microbrewery on West Jefferson Street later this year.

Bill and Desiree Atkinson, owners of the Chop Shop, 108 N. Main St., hosted a meet-and-greet Tuesday evening to welcome two young business owners to downtown.

Aaron Hicks hopes to open his ice cream and sweets shop by the end of May, and Amy Zielinski wants to be welcoming customers to her brunch and baked goods business in the next two weeks.

Both are Butler High School graduates.

“They're the future of Butler, and they see the value of opening a business here,” said Chelynne Curci, Butler's Main Street manager.

“Their successes will serve to inspire others.”

Curci said it is both unfortunate and a good sign that she has so few spaces to offer the influx of young entrepreneurs, counting only about five empty storefronts on Main Street.

“It's an exciting time right now,” she said.

The empty space at 110 N. Main St. will house “n2osh,” an ice cream shop.Hicks, a high school friend of business neighbor Atkinson, said the name is a combination of the liquid nitrogen used to cool the ice cream — n2 is the chemical formula for nitrogen gas — and the word “nosh,” slang for eating a snack.A Penn State graduate with a dual major in international politics and economics, the 30-year-old Hicks said he was looking for a different direction after working in pizza delivery and selling electronic goods and coupons.“I've always wanted to open something. I've been doing online sales the past few years,” Hicks said. “I've always liked the service industry.”So, he asked himself, “What is Butler missing?”The answer, in Hicks' mind, was an ice cream shop that people could walk to, close to schools and to the “urban park” to be set up on a closed portion of West New Castle Street this summer.Hicks, a Butler Downtown volunteer, said the foot traffic always is welcome on Main Street.“(An ice cream shop) actually has been suggested to (Curci) several times. She just kept telling people, it's coming,” Hicks said.All of the ice cream is made from scratch, Hicks said.

Amy Zielinski, 33, is changing careers to open Mimosas, a brunch and baked goods restaurant inside Haser’s, a bar at 118 N. Main St.Haser’s will continue to be open one day a week, while Mimosas will be open all week.After earning a degree in marketing and merchandising from Robert Morris University in 2001, Zielinski worked licensing securities and as a lender for National City Bank, then spent eight years as an assistant to Dr. Dane Benko, a job she left in January.“This opportunity to open the restaurant fell into my lap and I ran with it,” Zielinski said.“Everything here has been such a gift to me, from the business itself to the people helping me. I could not be more thankful.”After being offered use of the leased space at Haser’s, Zielinski said her love of cooking led to the idea for Mimosas.“I want to showcase a lot of baked goods,” she said.“My motivation behind my meals is things you’re used to eating or familiar with, done just a little bit better.”Zielinski described the drastic career shift as “totally scary.”“In my mind, it has to work. There is no other option.”Cheri Scott and Lisa Guard, both city council members and Butler business owners, were among the in and out of the Chop Shop, sampling goodies.“We need young, fresh, innovative people who are willing to take that risk (of opening a downtown business),” Scott said.“I’m really excited. A lot of people talk about the need for more business downtown, but it’s another thing to be out there, doing it.”