March 29, 2024

Under new management

Rick and Tara Hanson will take over Adams Street Espresso & Soda Shoppe Sunday

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One of uptown Creston’s staple businesses will undergo a major transition Oct. 1.

New managers Rick and Tara Hanson will take ownership of Adams Street Espresso & Soda Shoppe Sunday and reopen 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

“I remember sitting here as a kid,” Rick said about the stools near the soda fountain. “We have always talked about running our own business and when this came open, I thought it would be a neat place.”

The previous manager Stacey Ray and her family made the decision to look into selling the business in April.

“The reason we decided to put it up for sale was because Josh, my husband, has lots of opportunities to grow with the business he works with,” Ray said. “It could be a possibility that we would move, so we determined between the two of us that it would be more difficult if we had this business tying us down.”

Tara has been in the food industry for more than 25 years. She was attracted to the character and history of the building. She said they plan to run the business as a family.

“It was a difficult decision but one that I had a lot of support from family,” Ray said. “We kept it quiet not knowing what would happen. The buyers are local Crestonians, so that helps me with the transition knowing that it’s people within the community that believe in the shop and want to see it continue.”

Rick and Tara have been training with Ray the last couple weeks to help ease the transition.

“I have been around food, but not specifically coffee,” Tara said. “The espresso machine was hard to get used to at first. It really is an art, making coffee.”

Background

It was family heartache and a stroke of misfortune that directed Ray to open and run a new coffee shop in uptown Creston with her mother Mindy Dresback.

Her grandmother passed away in Feb. 2010. That November, in the first round of budget cuts, Ray lost a job she planned to stay at until retirement at the Union County Clerk of Court office.

“I had never drank a cup of coffee before I opened up this place,” Ray said. “I wanted to do this for her (grandmother), so we jumped. I hope my family is proud of what this has become because my heart and soul is in here.”

The building was built in 1883 as a staple to Adams Street’s storefront fixtures. It served as a pharmacy and pit stop for those in need of a refreshing fountain drink.

Rexall Drug and Brennan Drug switched sites in 1923. It changed hands two more times before Hanson Drug Owner Tony Cass ran the store from 1994 to 2006.

While Ray’s mission with Adams Street Espresso & Soda Shoppe was to create an outlet for family-friendly social gatherings, she never expected some of the guests that walked through the door.

“I think the most unexpected events that occurred here was a drop in by Zac Brown Band or having four presidential candidates in one week,” Ray said. “Never did I fathom that would even happen.”

Future plans

Both Tara and Rick said customers can expect business as usual Wednesday morning.

“We are not intending on changing anything right now,” Tara said. “We are going to keep it as is and really get good at that. I don’t believe in doing anything mediocre.”

Tara added in the future she wants to look into broadening the menu with her experience in food services. Another possibility is opening on Friday nights for food.

“I promised the new owners that I would be here for them and I volunteered myself to work the social art canvases so I know they will continue,” Ray said. “I just want to help them not have to reinvent the wheel, but still make it their own ... I want to help them be successful.”

Ray said she has always been very humbled by the community support and will miss the daily interaction with the customers.

“There is a sign back there I would like to take with me but I won’t because it belongs here,” Ray said. “It says, ‘If these walls could talk,’ and that says it all. There is a story or laughter or even stories from the 1960s that I hear on a daily basis. I’ve started a journal and that is what I am taking with me because it has a place in my heart.”