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Volume 114, Number 342 - Section B, Page 1 - Monday, November 2, 1998
Klekolo owner opens second coffee shop in Main Street Market space
by John Friedlander
Most retail businesses don't put two stores two blocks apart.
Most mall owners don't go out of their way to recruit tenants whose customers don't easily fit into a "desirable" category.
But rules apparently don't apply when the business is five-year Court Street tenant Klekolo World Coffee and the mall is the six-month old Main Street Market.
Saturday night, a Halloween parade made its way from Klekolo's Court Street location to an opening party at a new second store in the back of Main Street Market and kicked off the next growth step for the two businesses.
Just after dark, nearly seventy costumed friends and customers led by Klekolo owner Hollie Rose, spooked their way down Court Street, north on Main Street and into Main Street Market. On their arrival, Rose and Middletown Mayor Domenique Thornton cut a maze of purple ribbons and entered the new store, accompanied by original music from the brothers Randy, Fred and Tom Moses and the cheers of an enthusiastic crowd of cyborgs, cowboys, goths and goddesses.
"I've always planned on opening more than one Klekolo World Coffee and I'm still pursuing a location in another Connecticut town. But when Main Street Market said they wanted me to move in, it was just too cool an opportunity to turn down," said Rose, whose customers call her the Java Goddess.
Why would a small mall praised for bringing a struggling retail operation back to life recruit a business whose most visible addition to Court Street has been a crowd of teenagers with little money to spend?
"We've hand-picked every business in this building. This woman lives and breathes coffee," said David Cahill, Main Street Market's Building Manager. "She serves a quality product, she's got the Wesleyan community in her store, she puts on performances, she has poetry, she has art, and we want all of that here."
"The Department of Motor Vehicles office across the hall and the upscale shops in the building will provide a guaranteed customer base," Cahill continued. "There's enough difference in the markets that she can serve the two audiences very easily."
Ken Gronbach, owner of Main Street Market and President of KGA, the building's largest tenant and the agency well known for handling Bob's Stores' advertising, explained his strategy. "We wanted to have an alternative shopping experience here, something that people could not get [elsewhere]. [Hollie's store is] arty, it's eclectic, it's unusual, and we're delighted that she chose to come."
P.J. Jewelers owner John Feola, a tenant in the building since 1988, says business has improved 30 percent since the former ClockTower Shops was rechristened as Main Street Market. Asked what he thought about his new business neighbor, Feola didn't hesitate. "A coffee house is good for the mall. If it brings people in, it's fine."
Mayor Thornton, whose daughter works at Klekolo, commented, "Main Street is coming to life, and it's happening almost all at once. It's fantastic!"
Klekolo World Coffee is also located at 181 Court St. and is open from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. For information on the market store's hours, call 343-9444.
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Though I wrote this column, the Middletown Press owns it now, including the copyright associated with it. The column appears here by permission, and no other publication is allowed without express permission from the publisher.