Two new businesses geared toward helping people with disabilities will open in downtown Hillsdale.
The Hambleton family will be opening The Knowledge Emporium, a homeschool curriculum center, in May, and Sempre Pizza Etc., a restaurant, in the fall on 12 and 14 South Howell Street.
The first business to open, The Knowledge Emporium, will both be run by and will cater toward those with special needs, according to owner David Hambleton.
“We’ll have the storefront with a seating area where hopefully it can be a social place where folks come by and hang out,” Hambleton said. “We can learn together. We have a couple of booths there for tutoring, and those will open up into a classroom so that if a group of homeschoolers wants to do a math class or a science seminar, we can entertain a small group for that sort of thing.”
Hambleton said they plan to consolidate the costs of maintaining a brick-and-mortar building with streamlining their curriculum online.
“You buy one thing here, one thing there: you’re paying atrocious fees for shipping,” Hambleton said. “So what we’ll do is we’ll be the receiving point, pack and ship for the international customers, and I think there’ll be a better income stream between that and internet sales than our little brick and mortar, in and out the front door.”
Sempre Pizzeria Etc. plans to hire several people with special needs to help run the business, Hambleton said.
“Other organizations are finding out that hiring autistic people is a great business venture. It’s a matter of having roles and positions for them to do,” Hambleton said. “We’re starting a superpower incubator so that we can open and run businesses where their special purpose, special talents and interests can be optimized.”
The business will be adopting a similar business model to In-N-Out Burger with a simplified menu, Hambleton said.
“It’ll be a brick oven pizzeria with woodfired pizza,” Hambleton said. “We’re going to offer about four items on the main pizza menu; a very simple menu. For those who know the company, In-N-Out Burger is kind of our business model.”
The parents plan on employing their older children at the businesses, alongside other adults with disabilities, Hambleton said.
“I sit on the board of Key Opportunities in town, and that’s not a required connection. It just is an interesting one. I’m tied to a community of a whole lot of folks that makes me think we’re not unique in my house at all. There’s lots of people that need work,” Hambleton said.
According to Executive Director of Key Opportunities Julie Boyce, the two new businesses will make all the difference.
“Our primary mission is to train and employ, so having the opportunity to work with Mr. Hambleton is going to be a great opportunity to have another place to apply and look for job opportunities,” Boyce said.
Key Opportunities is a local charity specializing in training and finding jobs for adults with developmental disabilities, according to their website.
Hambleton said their two new businesses on Howell Street will serve as an extension of Key Opportunity’s mission.
“We’re painfully aware there’s a rift; there’s two different economies in town. There’s a working staff economy, where I come from, I’m a welder’s kid,” Hambleton said. “How do we serve them? I’m not going to call it noblesse oblige, but it’s whatever I can do to make this a better place for the school and the town to coexist and flourish together.”
Seven out of the eight children in the Hambleton family are on the autism spectrum, Hambleton said, and the family stays involved in the community.
David and Cassie Hambleton’s children are just as busy as they are: four sons are medalists in the Special Olympics, with one daughter receiving her bachelor’s degree this spring from Liberty University with a 4.0 and another daughter dedicating her education to help those with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
David Hambleton said students can give back to the community too.
“Don’t let your volunteerism end at the requirement,” David Hambleton said. “Use it as a springboard.”
Hambleton said he believes people with developmental disabilities are no less able to participate in the community than others.
“I’m a rugged individualist, I believe very much in our community being able to do incredible things. The whole idea that ‘these people’ are supposed to go get on SSI and sit, vegetate, and watch a movie and be happy and out of the way is so reprehensible to me,” Hambleton said.
