New growth in Perry’s retail community is creating a pre-holiday buzz among local merchants, shopkeepers and consumers.
Springing up in the Perry Business Plaza is Harper Rose’s Floral and Gifts at 503 First Ave., right next to Snap Fitness. The flower store and gift shop will open for business Monday, Oct. 8.
The location is especially convenient for Cherie Welch of Perry, who owns the side-to-side businesses and who seems determined to single-handedly bring retail life to the First Avenue strip mall.
“It just makes sense to have it here,” Welch said, standing amid the shelving and lumber of the in-the-bud flower shop. “I can be here on both sides. I can be at the gym, and I can be here, and both businesses will run a lot more efficiently that way.”
With a degree in interior design and extensive retail experience at Sarah’s Hallmark in Johnston and Homemakers Furniture in Urbandale, Welch is well positioned to run Harper Rose’s. She said her love of visual display was born when she worked at the Thymes Remembered tearoom.
The flower side of the business is new to Welch, but she has “good people coming on board,” she said. “I’ll have some new faces and some familiar faces, so it’ll be good.”
She said customers can expect a full-service flower store ready to bring beauty all of life’s milestones, from weddings and funerals to proms and homecomings and the everyday flower needs of the community. The front-end gift shop will feature girlfriend gifts and much seasonal variety, she said.
Along with the freshness of a new flower store, Perry shoppers also felt the comfort of familiar surroundings when Ben’s Five and Dime reopened Oct. 1 at 1221 Second St. The March fire that closed the retail landmark left local shoppers at loose ends, but a legion of volunteers helped restore the store within a matter of months.
“This is absolutely Perry’s store,” said Jan Pattee, busy with a thousand details at the store’s reopening. “We feel so much love for the volunteers who helped bring us back.” The March 21 fire closed Ben’s and two other downtown retail outlets. Only Ben’s bounced back.
Across the street from the five and dime is the soon-to-open Studio on Second, former home of the Perry Perk coffeehouse. The storefront at 1218 Second St. is undergoing a full facelift as the vision of Sally Spellman of Perry transforms the 2,000-square-foot commercial space into a new spot for art in the downtown cultural district.
The growth continues southward on Second Street, where the Backwards Boutique at 1124 Second St. is planning a soft opening to coincide with the annual Art on the Prairie in early November. The Backwards Property team of Emily and Dan Leslie of Perry have already revived the old Dillenbeck-Citizens State Bank building with tenants such as Haaland Financial Services and the Perry Perk coffeehouse, and now the Leslies will try their own hands at retailing.
Salvaged Soul at 1114 Second St. is aiming for a late-October opening. The shop’s dropped ceiling, made from knotty pine salvaged from the old Walt’s Sporting Goods store, will combine with a fireplace and copper chandelier in giving a homey feel to the antiques and repurposed home decor soon to fill the store.
Sweet as a thriving commercial district is to merchants, shopkeepers and consumers, Frio ice cream store at 1114 First Ave. puts the cherry on top of the downtown happiness. The Perry Chamber of Commerce hosted an Oct. 1 ribbon cutting at the new sweet shop, with many Chamber members enjoying their cones in commercial fellowship.
