Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Thursday, May 08, 2008
Books & coffee: Two businesses unite to save costs, increase customers
 Larry Wolner, owner of the Blue Heron Coffeehouse, cuts strips of wood Wednesday while remodeling the West Second Street location. The coffee shop closed in February and will reopen May 30, sharing the 3,600-square-foot space with The Bookshelf which will move from Huff Street. (Photo by Melissa Carlo/Winona Daily News) |
For those missing a cup of the Blue Heron Coffeehouse’s cappuccino, the wait is almost over.
The business will reopen May 30 at 162 W. Second St., where it will share the space with The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore that will close its 619 Huff St. location May 24.
The coffee shop closed in February after business didn’t keep up with the costs of operating the 3,600-square-foot location. The Heron was previously on Huff Street across from the Winona State University campus and reopened May 30, 2007, at the larger West Second Street location.
Now, the two businesses will share the space, with The Bookshelf on the west side and the Heron on the east side.
“It’s going to be great,” said Colleen Wolner who owns the Blue Heron with her husband, Larry. “I think it’ll still have that good, energetic feel.”
Colleen says it makes economic sense to use the space more wisely.
“It’s great because it gives us the opportunity to keep working,” she said. “Otherwise, we were out.”
The space for the Blue Heron will be much smaller, seating about 35 people — which is the most customers they’ve had at any given time, Colleen said.
Taking the counter apart was painful, but Colleen is glad it will now provide window counter seating for coffee connoisseurs.
The menu will be similar, and Colleen hopes to add a few new items. The coffee house could also feature music in the future, but for now, the Wolners are concentrating on reopening.
The partnership is also a good fit for Bookshelf owner Chris Livingston, who had been a
regular at the Heron for years. He didn’t want to see a fellow independent business close, especially one that makes
pumpkin waffles and quiche. His lease was up in fall, so he checked with the Wolners about partnering.
“Books and coffee are a formula that has worked in a lot of small towns,” Livingston said.
But he didn’t want to do the brewing.
“I don’t want to be in the food business,” he said. “I’m in the bookselling business.”
Livingston will also make minor adjustments to his business, which has discontinued selling text books and is adding more used books to attract browsers. He isn’t very sentimental about moving but says it will be weird to see another tenant in the space his business has occupied for more than five years.
“It’s not a romantic location,” Livingston said. “It’s a strip mall building.”
Livingston is searching for people to help move bookcases May 27-28.
Both businesses will be open seven days a week. A grand opening is in the works for later this summer.
Contact Käri Knutson at kknutson@winonadailynews.com or (507) 453-3523.
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