Over the last few months, several new businesses have opened their doors in Old Town Greenwood.
One adds a new option to a growing list of coffee shops in the heart of the city, while another provides a showroom for watches.
Locals expand footprint with cafe
A new coffee shop opened its doors for the first time on July 13, offering residents and visitors a unique atmosphere for coffee.
Cafe Euclid, 357 Euclid Avenue, is the latest venture from Laura and Paul Jacquin, the owners of Vino Villa. Business has been great since the cafe first opened, Paul Jacquin said.
“The neighborhood has very well received the business,” Jacquin said. “Being new, a lot of people are just kind of still discovering us.”
The discovery of the new cafe is helped by it’s location. The cafe is located immediately behind Vino Villa on an adjacent property, inside a converted home.
The idea of establishing a business of some sort on the property dates back to around 2014, when the owners of Vino Villa bought the land.
“We didn’t really know what we were going to do with the property at that point,” Jacquin said. “But given its proximity to the other business, we felt it would be a good logical purchase, so we bought the property.”
For a while, Jacquin’s son and his wife lived on the property. Eventually, Jacquin and his wife, Laura, were able to get the 0.25-acre property rezoned from residential to commercial, he said.
After his son and wife left the property, a lot of ideas were kicked around. Eventually, the idea of a cafe came up, Jacquin said.
Inside the shop, artwork hangs on the walls, along with words in different languages relating to relaxation and balance, such as Eunoia, which is Greek, and Ukiyo, which is Japanese. Right as customers enter, they are met by large mural of a man wearing a turban, which was painted by the boyfriend of one their employees, Jacquin said.
Jacquin invited both family and friends to take part of the design of the building, he said.
The cafe offers both coffee and food options. For the coffee, Cafe Euclid has partnered with Frothy Monkey, a Tennessee coffee roaster. Both Jacquin and his wife, Laura, enjoyed the group’s coffee whenever they visited the area, he said.
“When we finally landed on the fact that we were going to do a coffee shop, we started talking to the folks down there at the Frothy Monkey and they said ‘Yeah, we will be glad to help you out with both the design and equipment and product.’”
In terms of food, the menu is fairly simple, he said.
“It’s mostly bagel sandwiches. There’s about six different sandwiches on the menu,” Jacquin said. “The bagels are also sourced locally. We’re getting those from Scholars (Inn) Bakehouse down in Bloomington.”
There are a couple of coffee shops already in Old Town, but each cafe and shop has its own vibe that makes it attractive to people. Time will tell for Cafe Euclid, Jacquin said.
“Our goal, I think, is for it to just be a casual place for people to come hang out and socialize with their friends and family and over a cup of coffee and maybe have a business meeting or two,” he said.
Jacquin’s favorite part of the new venture is the opportunity to interact with people, something that also applies to Vino Villa. Providing people with a place to hang out, socialize and also do work is great, he said.
“It’s very fun to see a lot of the neighborhood people here in Old Town just come strolling down the sidewalk or pushing a baby stroller or riding their bike and just having a nice, cool local place to plop down and relax,” he said.
Watch company adds physical presence
About 3 to 4 blocks to the south, a new showroom above Revery provides an online watch company an opportunity for people to see the watches in person.
The Visitor Watch Co., 205 S. Madison Avenue, Suite 205, has existed for nearly a decade, though mainly online. Phil Rodenbeck, who is from Northern Indiana, founded the micro-brand wristwatch company in 2013, and moved to Greenwood in 2016.
The micro-brand company is similar to the idea of a micro-brewery, and is one of the only watch companies of its kind in the state, he said.
Rodenbeck does everything from the sketches to the engineering drawings to figuring out what companies will make the components, as the manufacturing is outsourced. He also does quality control on every single watch before it goes out, and handles the company’s website, photography and shipping, he said.
One of the biggest challenges Rodenbeck faced with his company was a lack of space for people to see the watches in person before they make an expensive purchase, he said. So when he saw a sign in a window above Revery saying that space was for rent late last year, he knew he had to move there.
“Revery has been our favorite restaurant in Greenwood for pretty much since we’ve lived here,” Rodenbeck said. “I was familiar with this building and that it’s an original Greenwood building that has that authentic aesthetic and everything.”
Rodenbeck signed the lease for the space in December and began moving into it in March. A soft open for the business took place in July.
The building seemed like a perfect fit for his brand, and it’s location was perfect too. He wanted to be in the heart of the community, he said.
The Madison development also factored into the decision.
“It seemed like a good time to get in here when they’re really investing in downtown, and hopefully the future is bright for downtown with bringing in a bunch of new people,” Rodenbeck said.
The watches in the showroom are designed by Rodenbeck himself. The watches featured in the showroom include the Duneshore, a large dress watch inspired by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. It was the first watch he ever made.
“It’s the watch that I wanted to make,” Rodenbeck said. “The impetus for starting my brand was being like, ‘Well, I want to have this as a creative outlet.’”
The watches Rodenbeck designs and sells are mechanical watches, which instead of using batteries, use mechanical parts to keep track of time. This method of timekeeping dates back nearly 400 years, he said.
“This is like 120 odd pieces of metal that are all assembled together with high enough precision that you can create a time signature that’s accurate to a couple of seconds every day. And to me, that’s still amazing,” he said. “Even though that technology has existed for a long time, I’m still amazed by that.”
In addition to being a workspace and showroom for Rodenbeck, the space is also designed to be a place for watch enthusiasts to be able to meet up, and he hopes to eventually be able to use the space for community events, he said.
Right now, Rodenbeck is hoping to get the word out that the showroom exists. A majority of his business sales are from outside Indiana, with 40% being international, he said.
“I want more people to know that this is here,” Rodenbeck said.
The showroom currently is appointment only, and Rodenbeck asks those interested in seeing the watches to make an appointment online at visitorwatchco.com/showroom.
