I’ve consoled myself over the years that I couldn’t get a good latte in town with the fact that it saved time, money and calories.
Now with the opening of the “Right Around the Corner,” coffee shop, I’m sunk.
It’s not a coincidence that around 10 a.m. — our deadline to go to press for the day’s paper — I can hear a soy latte and slice of pumpkin bread calling my name. The coffee shop is within easy walking distance, just off the square on South Jefferson.
After Monday’s paper was out the news staff met at Around the Corner. And I must admit it was a pretty productive meeting. We examined the efficiency of the machine that steams the milk. We weighed the pros and cons of mocha over amaretto flavorings. We compared the cookies to the scones.
All in a day’s work.
ON WEDNESDAY I popped into Kelly Sigg’s Audacious Boutique to take advantage of her sale. A coupon printed in the Register’s classifieds section offered 20 percent off everything not already on sale. Sorry, the special ended Friday. Hint: Be sure to look at each Monday’s classifieds to see the Special of the Week.
As always, walking into Audacious was a great opportunity to visit with Kelly and see how business is going.
As the “new kid on the block,” Kelly has been pleasantly surprised by the difference of moving her women’s clothing store from just slightly down the street to right on the downtown square.
“We don’t realize how lucky we are to have a highway going right through town,” she said of the east-west US 54 corridor.
Seems many of her customers are “drive-bys” whose attention is grabbed by her creative window displays, which I’m sure is the same for all downtown merchants.
“I couldn’t survive if I relied on only Iola shoppers,” she said, which is not to disparage their loyalty, but to illustrate the added advantage of the out-of-town traffic that passes by her storefront at a steady pace.
Kelly has been pleasantly pleased by the local response to her store.
“The first 18 months were amazing,” she said. “I knew that couldn’t last, and it’s settled down somewhat. With Christmas just around the corner, I’m hoping the traffic will pick back up.”
The majority of Kelly’s customers are between the ages of 35 to 50, a demographic that is still youthful and has money to spend.
It’s heartening to see businesses placing their bets on Iola. We can return the favor by making them our first place to shop.
