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Biz Buzz shares business tidbits from across the tri-states. This edition highlights recent developments in Dubuque.
A Dubuque staple is marking 25 years with its community-involved owner.
Judy Faulhaber took over Big Apple Bagels on March 1, 2000, with her late husband, Jeff. The outgoing owner at the time knew he wanted Faulhaber, then a manager, to take the reins.
“He really wanted to sell it to me,” she said. “Me and my husband knew this is what we wanted.”
Faulhaber calls her store a “bagel cafe,” noting diverse options for breakfast and lunch. The menu includes bagel sandwiches, pizza bread, coffee and smoothies. The store also offers catering.
“We make and bake everything from scratch daily,” Faulhaber said.
Faulhaber said she has a “really, really good staff.”
“I have a really good relationship with them,” she said. “My big concern is customer service, and our employees are really good about that.”
One of the things that makes the store stand out is the community involvement Faulhaber fosters.
Faulhaber is a prominent community philanthropist, involved with St. Mark Youth Enrichment, Two by Two Character Development and Resources Unite. She and her employees recently helped out with the annual Forever Seventeen Fundraiser, raising $1,300 to support scholarships for students who want to serve in the health care and emergency responder fields.
“For the month of February, the employees donated all their tips (to Forever Seventeen),” she said.
Reflecting on 25 years, Faulhaber said her time owning Big Apple Bagels has been rewarding. The store has celebrated the milestone with specials and even a bit of redecoration.
“We’re doing a bunch of throwbacks to what we would be doing in the year 2000,” Faulhaber said. “We used to have (my) kids’ pictures on the wall for the first 10 years, so we brought those back.”
Big Apple Bagels, 1675 John F. Kennedy Road, is open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. More information is available at facebook.com/BigAppleBagels.Dubuque.IA/.
Card and game shop to open in Kennedy Mall
Trading card lovers in Dubuque soon will have a new hub in Kennedy Mall.
Coulee Cards & Gaming will occupy a 3,800-square-foot space next to Spencer Gifts in the mall.
“We will have pretty much any trading cards you can imagine, so sports cards — baseball, football, basketball are the big ones but also hockey, wrestling,” opening store manager Liane Olson said.
The store also will feature Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece and Magic: The Gathering cards, as well as some board games, Olson said.
This will be the seventh store for Coulee, which got its start in 2020 in Onalaska, Wis.
“We’ve had success combining sports and gaming,” Olson said. “We’re kind of a one-stop shop no matter what kind of cards you collect.”
Olson said many customers at the company’s Cedar Rapids, Iowa, store came from Dubuque, signaling a need for a new store in the tri-state area.
Aside from the products it offers, Olson said the company’s customer service and passionate employees also contribute to its success.
“One of the things we look for in (potential) employees is passion for Pokemon or baseball cards or anything that makes sense,” she said.
A grand opening will be held from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, March 22. The store’s hours will be the same as other store hours at the mall.
Updates will be posted to the store’s Facebook page, tinyurl.com/CouleeCards.
Resale shop opens in Dubuque
Four recent retirees have opened a Dubuque resale shop featuring a plethora of items.
Let It Go Treasures New 4 U, located in the lower level of 1745 John F. Kennedy Road, Suite C, is a joint project of Kris Clough, Joe Danner, Janet Farrey and Judy Meyer. The business is not a consignment store — all items being sold belong to the group of four.
“It started out as, we were just trying to get rid of some stuff that we had,” Farrey said. “It’s nice stuff; you didn’t really want to give it away. … We decided we wanted to do something like this.”
Visitors to the store, which opened about three months ago, will see items such as ornaments, lamps, figurines, shoes, jewelry, dresses, tools and Iowa Hawkeyes merch.
Farrey said the phrase “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure” does not quite apply to her store.
“Well, one man’s treasure is another new treasure for someone else — because it’s not junk,” she said.
Many of the items come with price tags under $10, but Clough said there are items for all ages and price ranges.
Changes to the store’s selection are frequent, whether to reflect seasonal changes or simply because someone in the group found a new item to sell.
“Every day, … I root through stuff and think, ‘Oh, that would be good,’” Danner said.
Upcoming additions will include an expanded tool area, courtesy of Danner, a retired plumber. He said a garage door included in the store’s space will be open once the weather is warmer to encourage passersby to stop in.
Farrey said the store’s customers include young people with an interest in vintage items. However, Clough noted the store also has many newer items and items for children, such as kneepads, books and dolls — some still in their packaging.
Let It Go Treasures New 4 U is open from noon to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Danner said these hours might expand in the summer.
More information is available at tinyurl.com/LetItGoDBQ.
