Spring Break
Sugar and spice
Crystal Lindell
Issue date: 9/29/04 Section: News
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Lester said the store was about 300 miles away, so she wouldn't have been in competition with it. Because the woman was unwilling to help her, she never did go visit it.
Lester then found a bulk store about 90 miles from Colchester in Cantrell, Iowa, and the man who owned that store helped her. She said he told her about a catalog that had all the items that she would want to sell.
"I took the small business start-up class at Western (Illinois University)," Lester said. She also added that she had to take a refresher course for her health food service license.
Her husband bought her the building as a gift.
"It was sitting empty for a long time," she said. "I really wanted to use an existing building rather than building something."
When they bought the building, the floors were leaking. She and her husband hired the local Amish community to help them build the floors and make some shelves. The store finally opened on Jan. 1, 2003.
"I had nothing to do but sit at home and watch football, and I said 'we're going to open today,'" Lester said.
Originally the store was open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week, but it is now closed on Sundays.
"I found it just doesn't pay to be open on Sundays," Lester said.
Lester's daughter and three grandchildren help out, but she said she pretty much runs things. She added her grandchildren participate by picking out types of candy she will sell.
Currently they have gummy spiders, gummy chicken feet and year-round multi-flavored candy canes, among other candies.
"The store offers something really different from your Wal-Mart or Kmart experience," Lester said. "Those stores are OK, but every town has those."
Some of Lester's customers buy baking products in her store and then share the results with her.
"People bring me things," she said. "They're always buying (ingredients) and then bringing me a loaf of bread."
Lester does not sell her own homemade food at the store though.
"That's a whole other can of worms with the health department," she said.
Lester then found a bulk store about 90 miles from Colchester in Cantrell, Iowa, and the man who owned that store helped her. She said he told her about a catalog that had all the items that she would want to sell.
"I took the small business start-up class at Western (Illinois University)," Lester said. She also added that she had to take a refresher course for her health food service license.
Her husband bought her the building as a gift.
"It was sitting empty for a long time," she said. "I really wanted to use an existing building rather than building something."
When they bought the building, the floors were leaking. She and her husband hired the local Amish community to help them build the floors and make some shelves. The store finally opened on Jan. 1, 2003.
"I had nothing to do but sit at home and watch football, and I said 'we're going to open today,'" Lester said.
Originally the store was open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week, but it is now closed on Sundays.
"I found it just doesn't pay to be open on Sundays," Lester said.
Lester's daughter and three grandchildren help out, but she said she pretty much runs things. She added her grandchildren participate by picking out types of candy she will sell.
Currently they have gummy spiders, gummy chicken feet and year-round multi-flavored candy canes, among other candies.
"The store offers something really different from your Wal-Mart or Kmart experience," Lester said. "Those stores are OK, but every town has those."
Some of Lester's customers buy baking products in her store and then share the results with her.
"People bring me things," she said. "They're always buying (ingredients) and then bringing me a loaf of bread."
Lester does not sell her own homemade food at the store though.
"That's a whole other can of worms with the health department," she said.
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