My Other Church Clothes, a clothing consignment store, opened its doors for business on June 1.

Owner Constance Thornton said she opened the business when the 19 E. Walnut St. lot became available.

“It is a great location downtown and I couldn’t pass it up,” Thornton said.

Thornton said she opened the business because she lives in Columbia and has no previous experience with consignment retailing.

My Other Church Clothes is open Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. or by appointment.

Customers can expect to pay anywhere from $6 to $30 from a selection of shoes, jackets, sweaters, pants, capris and tops.

Contact Thornton at (573) 999-3961.

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The Missourian just published an article about three restaurants taking on downtown Columbia.

Two of the three – The Rome and Bleu Restaurant – were already mentioned here on UpDownColumbia. The third restaurant featured in the article is Room 38, a restaurant and lounge that will open where Otto’s used to be at 38 N. Eighth St. Room 38’s website states it will be “Columbia’s hottest new gathering place.”

UpDownColumbia will make a post when specific details about Room 38’s opening become available.

The article in the Missourian also puts the local business economy in context, so if you’re interested is reading about why restaurants are opening and closing around Columbia, check it out.

Daylight Donuts, a donut franchise based in Tulsa, Okla., is planned to open in Columbia this fall, said Manager Zaki Patel.

The shop, located at 1203 E. Broadway, is owned by Zaki Patel’s father, Shabbir Patel and Nick Patel. Zaki Patel said that the business should be ready to be open by Sept. 1.

The owners decided to open a franchise donut shop in Columbia because of the lack of donut shops that Columbia currently has- particularly in the downtown area.

After looking at another location near N. Providence Rd. and E. Worley Street, Zaki Patel said that they chose the 1203 E. Broadway location because of the amount of traffic the area generates and the proximity to downtown offices and businesses.

Zaki Patel said that after researching other donut franchises, they decided on Daylight Donuts because of the fresh and natural ingredients the company uses. The natural ingredients were important to the owners for religious reasons.

According to the company’s website, Daylight Donuts currently has over 300 locations in the U.S. in addition to international locations.

Daylight Donuts will be open by 6 a.m. everyday and will offer fresh donuts and coffee in the morning and hot wings in the afternoon, said Zaki Patel.

Zaki Patel said that customers can expect to pay less than $2 for a cup of coffee and a donut.

Contact (573) 289-6323 with any questions.

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Mississippi Fish Shack, located at 929 E. Broadway on the corner of Tenth St. and Broadway, is now open in Columbia after moving from Boonville said owner Kim Perry.

Perry said she moved her business to Columbia because of the diversity of Columbia as well as a growing clientele from Columbia.

After months of looking for a good location for her restaurant, Perry chose the 929 E. Broadway space which was previously occupied by Village Wine & Cheese.

Since the restaurant opening in July, Perry has seen many new customers from Columbia come in. Their response?

“They love the food,” Perry said.

According to Perry, the most popular items on the menu are fried catfish and frog legs. Her favorite dish is her homemade sweet potatoes.

A typical dinner costs around $8. The popular catfish dish is $7.75 and includes four catfish fillets, fries, slaw and hush puppies.

Have you been to Mississippi Fish Shack? Let us know what you thought!

Details about Mississippi Fish Shack:

Hours: Monday – Thursday: 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Friday – Saturday: 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Phone number: (573) 814-FISH

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The Bread Basket Cafe closed it’s downtown location at 220 South 8th Street.

According to David Maxwell, the shop’s owner, they closed their doors Saturday night.  Maxwell said the store had been there three years, but “just weren’t able to get enough business to make it work out.”

Maxwell said despite the great location, the building was too large to sustain by selling sandwiches.

“I think there are a lot of things that would do extremely well there, but as far as a soup and sandwich shop it just didn’t work out,” he said.

The original shop, which is located at 2101 W Broadway, is still open for business.

There are mixed feelings about the results of this summer’s Dog Days sidewalk sale.
The Special Business District doesn’t keep statistical results of the sale, but they do ask businesses some questions at the end of the sale to get an idea of the turnout.
“For the most part, we talked to folks and it was pretty good.” Carrie Gartner, director of the District, said. “It rained the first day, which is always tough.”
George Wren, owner of the Birkenstock store on Broadway, said that he saw less foot traffic than last year, and because of the economic recession, people are buying less.
“It was an okay sale, it wasn’t terrible or anything,” Wren said. “Everybody’s had to kind of trim down.”
Wren also said that he put out about half as much stock on the sidewalk as he did last year. Some customers had commented to him during the sale that stores overall didn’t have as much merchandise as last year.
R.W. Smith, a salesperson at Binghams, agrees that the economy and high gas prices contributed to a slower turn out.
“Our sales were a little soft, but we still had a decent Dog Days (sale),” said Smith. “I think people are more cautious of how they spend their dollars.”
Smith said that they didn’t put out as many tables as last year, but they still had a lot of merchandise. Putting out, Smith said that it could also mean that they had less buying mistakes during the year and, therefore, less leftover inventory to get rid of.
Smith also mentioned that this was the first year with the new awning, which covers less of the sidewalk that the old canopy did. With that in mind, people might have been slower to move their merchandise on the sidewalk during the rainy days.
Kelly Williams, the assistant manager at Envy, said that she didn’t see as many stores participating, and she suspects that it was a much slower sale than usual.
“We haven’t crunched our stock yet, but we definitely saw less than last year — about two thirds of the customers and the sales,” Williams said. “I don’t really know what (the factors were).”
Williams said the weather may have dulled turnout, but she also pointed out that it was the first full year since Savvy made the transformation to Envy.
Mills Menser, owner of Buchroeder’s, said that, while their sales were better than last year, he had noticed some differences in the Dog Days sale turn out.
“(In) downtown as a whole, not as many shoppers came out,” Menser said. “And the amount of organization and effort from other businesses wasn’t as much as I’ve seen in the past.”
Gartner said that, while the past two years were very sunny, the rainy weather this year was a factor to consider. She also said that she thinks the same number of retailers participated this year as last year, and two years ago there weren’t as many retailers open in the downtown area, so she thinks that there were more participants. As far as the suspicion of fewer shoppers, she disagrees.
“If people are worried about the economy, it strikes me that they would want to be at a clearance sale,” Gartner said.
On the other end of the spectrum, Erin Keltner, owner of Swank boutique, said that she saw more traffic than last year and, despite the weather, there was a good turnout. Keltner said that she thought everyone participated for the most part, but she was surprised that one of the stores next to her didn’t.
Veronica Kramer, owner of Pen Point Paperie, said that she saw about the same results overall- sales, foot traffic and participants. She said that although the weather was a little odd, there were really no big changes this year.
The Tiger Spirit store also said they had a very successful Dog Days sale, but salesperson Maredith Prosser said that since the Cotton Bowl and the past winning season for the MU football team, overall business has increased.
Many stores have still not calculated their sales revenue from the Dog Days sale or compared them to last year yet. But no store said that they were disappointed with the end results or the turnout. Although there are many possible factors that can contribute to each store’s success during the sale, an overall consensus of fun and satisfaction was apparent.
“I think it’s a valuable and good tradition for downtown businesses,” Menser said.

Bleu, a restaurant and wine bar at 29 S. 8th St., will open its doors the week of Aug. 18 said owner Travis Tucker.
Tucker said that Bleu will serve contemporary American food and focus on small plates of food.

Tucker said that he is opening Bleu after gaining experience in the food industry.

“I’ve been in the industry for 15 years and I was just ready to do my own thing.”

Tucker chose Columbia for his business because of his ties to MU as a graduate.

On average, customers can expect to spend $10 for lunch and $15 to $20 for dinner.

Details about Bleu
Phone number: (573) 529-9915
Hours: Monday – Thursday: 11 a.m. – midnight
Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m. – 1 a.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. – midnight

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Columbia’s first cookie delivery shop plans to open its doors this September.

It’s founders, MU students Corey Rimmel, David Melnick, and Adam Hendin, took the idea from a similar shop that Rimmel saw while visiting Bloomington, Ind.

“Corey saw how well they were doing, he came back and started talking about opening a similar store at Mizzou,” Melnick said.

The owners are currently in the process of building the shop, which will be located at 808-B East Broadway.

While nothing is finalized, Melnick estimated their hours would be:

• Monday-Wednesday 4 p.m. -1 a.m.
• Thursday-Friday 4 p.m. – 2 a.m.
• Saturday 1 p.m. – 2 a.m.
• Sunday 1 p.m. – midnight

Melnick said a single cookie will sell for approximately 95 cents, and scale so that “the more you buy the better the deal.”

“Plus, we hope to establish a catering business to serve whoever might want to buy a whole lot of cookies,” Melnick said.

Hot Box’s menu will also include milkshakes, smoothies, milk, soda and ice cream sandwiches.

The Rome, a home-style italian restaurant, will open its doors on Saturday, July 26.

Established in Franklin, Mass. in 1965, The Rome is a family-operated restaurant by the Colace family.

Son Dan Colace attended MU where he met his friend and co-owner Cory Hodapp. After graduating and returning to the east coast, the two decided to move back to Columbia to open a second The Rome restaurant.

Guests can choose from a menu of salads, soups, pizzas, pastas, sandwiches and meat dishes. Soups, sauces and pizzas are made in the kitchen daily and all dishes are served with fresh ingredients. Prices are about $7 – $17.

The Rome is open daily for lunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dinner hours for Monday-Saturday are 4 to 10 p.m. and 4 to 9 p.m. on Sunday.

The restaurant is located at 114 S. Ninth St.

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Contact (573) 876-2703 with any questions.

The Strand reopened at 1100 Club Village Drive, Suite 105, on Tuesday, June 24. Owner Christy Huggins said the hair salon and spa moved from its old location on Tenth Street because of the larger, more adaptable space.

“It’s a beautiful building, but there were no private service rooms,” she said of the space at 125 N. Tenth St.

Huggins said the new location is more convenient and offers new marketing opportunities. “Everyone has been thrilled about the free parking,” she said. “We found it to be a really pretty heavily trafficked area with a lot of other things around it.”

She said she plans to market to students and professionals in the area. She has talked with other nearby businesses about teaming up on evening events such as demonstrations and customer appreciation nights. These ideas are still in the works, though.

“We’ll probably work with the other businesses to figure that out specifically,” Huggins said.

Details about The Strand:
Phone number: (573) 875-3008
Services: Body massage (Swedish, therapeudic, deep tissue, foot reflexology, ear candling), body waxing, facials, glycolic facial peels, manicures and pedicures, haircuts and styling
Prices: Women’s haircuts range from $30 to $40 and men’s from $20 to $30.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays
9 a.m. to 7 pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays