McKinney Brewery Converts Grain Silos Into Small Business Retail Spaces

Six grain silos at Tupps Brewery on East Louisiana Street are now permanent retail spaces for small businesses, marking the brewery's most ambitious expansion of its entrepreneurial mission since founder Keith Lewis brewed his first batch at home in 2009.

The Silos at Tupps Brewery held its grand opening on March 7 at 402 E. Louisiana St. in McKinney's Mill District, drawing visitors from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, live music, craft beer, cocktails, and food from the Tupps kitchen. The event was free to attend, with the official ribbon cutting taking place at 11:30 a.m.

Lewis, who founded the brewery out of a garage hobby, framed the project as an extension of the same bootstrapped spirit that built Tupps into one of Texas's most recognized craft breweries. "Tupps started as a family dream," he said. "We built it from the ground up, and we want others to have that same opportunity. The Silos are about heart, hustle, and giving people a place to grow."

The project evolved from Tupps' earlier Build-Your-Own-Business Courtyard initiative, converting the brewery's iconic grain bins into six experiential retail spaces designed for hands-on, maker-driven businesses. Two vendors were publicly identified ahead of the opening. BIN 101 houses Rolling Cigars, which offers premium cigars alongside an educational experience for first-time and seasoned enthusiasts. BIN 102 is home to TOASTED Simple, a small-batch syrup maker specializing in food-infused cocktail and mocktail blends, including its signature Old-Fashioned Elixir, along with smoker kits and barware, with a build-your-own Old-Fashioned station for guests.

The remaining four silo occupants had not been publicly identified in materials ahead of the grand opening.

Tupps' trajectory from garage operation to craft brewery to small-business incubator reflects a broader pattern in East McKinney, where the Mill District has become a hub for locally rooted commercial development. The Silos represent the brewery's bet that the same combination of community, creativity, and permanence that built its own brand can do the same for the next generation of Collin County entrepreneurs.