Three storefronts in downtown Carmel changed hands or names between late August and mid-October, and each change follows the same pattern. An Indianapolis restaurant that opened in 1979 replaced a French concept at Sophia Square. Next door, a bubble tea franchise became an independent café under the same owners. On Range Line Road, a children's bookstore that has spent 40 years on Illinois Street in Indianapolis is set to open its second location.
So the newest names in the Arts & Design District this fall have long histories. The business owners behind them are doubling down on what they already know works and bringing it north, rather than testing a new idea on Main Street.
One Building, Three Restaurants in About Three Years
The 5,162-square-foot restaurant space at 110 W. Main St. has turned over more often than most corners downtown. The Pint Room held it until it closed in late 2023. Ambrosia Hospitality Group then opened Josephine, a French restaurant, there in early 2025, according to Current in Carmel.
Josephine served its last night on Aug. 23. The same ownership group then converted the room into a second location of Ambrosia, the Italian restaurant the Pizzi family opened in Indianapolis in 1979. The original still operates at 5903 N. College Ave.
The owners described the decision in an Aug. 12 Instagram post that Current quoted:
"Sometimes the next step forward takes you back to where it all began. For our family, that's Ambrosia."
The owners stayed the same and the concept changed. After a year and a half with something new, the family went back to the name it has run for 47 years. An IndyStar dining roundup updated Oct. 1 confirmed that September brought "a familiar name in Italian eats to Carmel."
What Carried Over From College Avenue
The August announcement aimed for a late-September opening. Guest reviews on Ambrosia Carmel's OpenTable page show it serving diners by Sept. 27, and one reviewer on Sept. 28 noted it had just opened. The restaurant's own site now reads "Now Open."
The Carmel menu is mostly the Broad Ripple menu with a few changes. Both kitchens list mushroom ragu, bucatini amatriciana, vongole, fettuccine bolognese, lasagna and carbonara. Each location also lists a few dishes the other doesn't:
| Menu detail | Ambrosia Carmel | Ambrosia on College Ave. |
|---|---|---|
| Shared pastas | Mushroom ragu, bucatini amatriciana, vongole, fettuccine bolognese, carbonara, lasagna | Same core lineup |
| Listed only here | Truffle arancini, lamb shank | Grilled octopus, short rib |
| Other Carmel listings | Steamed mussels, meatballs, ceci chopped salad, branzino, bistecca |
The Carmel lasagna is billed as a family recipe. That matters more than usual here, since the whole reason for the switch was a family going back to its own cooking.
The Carmel location serves dinner only. OpenTable lists hours of 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Reservations go through OpenTable, which showed open tables for the coming evening as of this week. The listing also includes a patio, which may get a few more weeks of use before the weather turns.
Suite 106 Kept Its Owners and Changed Its Name
Ambrosia went back to an older name. A few doors into the same building, Hari and Aparna Prasad went the other way and dropped a borrowed one. After nearly four years running Bober Tea & Mochi Dough as a franchise, they ended the franchise agreement and launched their own concept, Bobalato & Mochi Co. It stays at the same address, 110 W. Main St., Suite 106.
"Over time, we realized that we wanted the freedom to create something that was truly our own," Aparna Prasad told Current in Carmel.
The menu shows what that freedom produced. The biggest addition is freshly churned gelato. The shop also now offers:
- Mochi bubble waffle sundaes and bobalato cup sundaes
- Specialty coffee and affogatos
- Milkshakes and seasonal drinks
- Korean-style egg drop sandwiches and bobalato melts
Adding coffee and sandwiches moves the shop beyond a dessert stop toward a café you might visit at other times of day. The Prasads said they want it to "feel like an experience rather than simply stopping in for a drink or dessert." The shop's own site calls it a family-owned dessert café, and Visit Hamilton County lists it at the same Suite 106 address.
That puts two businesses in one building under the same kind of change this fall. Both are local operators betting on a menu they control themselves.
A 40-Year-Old Bookstore Opens a Second Shop on Range Line
The third example comes from Indianapolis. Kids Ink Books has been on Illinois Street for 40 years. Wendy Fitzgerald and her daughter, Kate, bought it in June 2025, and they now plan to open a second location at 22 N. Range Line Rd. on Oct. 15.
"I'm personally surprised there's not already an indie bookstore in that downtown area," Wendy Fitzgerald told Current in Carmel, calling the location "right in the heart of the Carmel Arts & Design."
The store will share its floor 50-50 with Rock-A-Toy, which sells handmade baby gifts and heirloom toys and is owned by Carmel resident Idil Asik. The owners plan storytimes and visits from local authors. They expect to hire 10 part-time employees to staff the Indianapolis and Carmel stores.
Like Ambrosia, Kids Ink is expanding with a model that already works in Indianapolis. The Fitzgeralds have also started a literacy nonprofit, the Kids Ink Literary Project. It aims to bring free author events and books to schools with fewer resources across central Indiana, and it is applying for grants and accepting donations.
The opening date and hours below were the plan as of late September, and Fitzgerald said the hours could change as the store learns the Carmel market. Before a first visit, check kidsinkbooks.com for current details.
How the Hours Fit Together
Taken together, these three businesses can fill a full downtown afternoon and evening, mostly in Arts & Design District storefronts. Their posted hours line up in a useful order:
- Kids Ink Books and Rock-A-Toy, 22 N. Range Line Rd. Tentative hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, starting Oct. 15.
- Ambrosia, 110 W. Main St. Dinner starts at 5 p.m. every night, so a late-afternoon stop at the bookstore runs right into a dinner reservation.
- Bobalato & Mochi Co., 110 W. Main St., Suite 106. Dessert is in the same building, with gelato or an affogato after dinner. Its hours weren't part of the recent coverage, so check the shop's site before you go.
Sunday is the one exception. The bookstore's planned 2 p.m. close leaves a three-hour gap before Ambrosia opens at 5.
Two smaller details round out the picture. Ambrosia's patio is listed as a seating option on OpenTable, so October evenings may still allow an outdoor table. OpenTable notes that the Carmel menu it carries was last updated Sept. 25, so the dishes listed above reflect the opening menu.
The space at 110 W. Main St. has now held three restaurants since 2023. The newest one has been operating on College Avenue since 1979.
If you're a Carmel homeowner thinking about how changes like these on Main Street and Range Line affect what buyers notice about downtown, I'm always glad to talk it through over coffee, gelato included if we meet at Suite 106. Ann Williams Erickson has followed this corner of Carmel since 2003. Let's Connect.
