May 24—PLYMOUTH — Community leaders and members of the nonprofit Plymouth Alive gathered on Monday night to welcome two bustling new businesses to the borough family.

Blue Sky Hibachi and F-16 Barbershop held their ceremonial grand openings on Monday, and the owners of both businesses were presented with plaques by Plymouth Alive President Alexis Eroh officially recognizing them as part of the Plymouth downtown.

"It feels great, really awesome," said Blue Sky owner Luke Tolenan as he accepted the plaque, and posed with Plymouth Alive members and members of his staff outside his restaurant.

Separated by just a few blocks along East Main Street (Blue Sky is at 227 E. Main St. and F-16 at 1 E. Main St.), the two new businesses both opened their doors a couple of weeks ago, and it's been a steady start for both the hibachi restaurant and the barbershop.

Wileny Lima, co-owner of F-16, said that they had originally opened up a business in New Jersey before the pandemic, but decided to move west to start anew after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic had passed.

"We looked around at a few different places, but we really liked this town," Lima said. "Everybody's really welcoming, everyone has come to say hello since we've opened."

Plymouth Alive's aim is to revitalize the borough's downtown scene and to bring people back downtown — bring Plymouth to life.

A big part of that is welcoming new businesses to Main Street and helping them to prosper, giving people new opportunities to check out the area and see what the borough has to offer.

Tolenan had mentioned in a previous Times Leader interview that the borough had been extremely helpful in getting Blue Sky off the ground after opening, and he said Monday that he was looking forward to repaying the favor.

"This makes me even more excited to do something for this town," he said.