Boom Town New businesses are taking root in a revitalized East Jordan business climate BY JANE E. BOOZE - Contributing Writer Thursday, June 3, 2004 East Jordan has come a long way from its early boom town days; the old pictures show streets barren of trees, a small downtown, its architecture borrowed from the big city, and neighborhoods that still sport functional barns behind the houses. These days it's a little greener, but still bustling with activity, and retaining the community feel of the original small town. Recently, some of those early downtown buildings have come into new life befitting their nostalgic grandeur.

Irene Gettel, pictured here with daughter Sarah, the new owner of the LumberJack Grill restaurant in East Jordan, wants to keep people close to home in a cheerful environment. Gettel is just one of a slew of new business owners in East Jordan giving the small town their best shot this spring.

There are 12 new businesses in East Jordan which have opened within the last year, and a couple more are set to open in the new Main Street Building (formerly the Dahlquist Building, renovated by Floyd and Todd Wright). The town seems to have taken on a collective new life, with a vision that is as cohesive as it is varied. Without exception, the business owners that have located in East Jordan (not all downtown) seem to believe that the town is on the move toward a commercial, artistic and culinary revival.

Almost 100 percent of the new business owners are local, a few are welcome transplants, but many have lived their lives here. All are willing to risk capital in East Jordan because of a firm belief that they are able to provide something that meets a certain need in this area, and keep citizen's earnings circulating in their own hometown.

IRENE GETTEL, the new owner of the LumberJack - renamed the LumberJack Grill - recalls that she and her husband, Jeff, had their first date at a table in that very restaurant. She also realized that though she and Jeff had a romantic history with the LumberJack, they still left town when they went out to dinner. She wants to keep people close to home, to make them and their families feel welcome in a cheerful environment staffed with - exclusively - smiling faces (including her daughters). To facilitate that, Irene plans to open up the wall facing the headwater area, exposing to passersby a family restaurant on the order of Applebee's or Ruby Tuesday's. And while the LumberJack will still offer the old favorites ("I've never heard a complaint about the food," Irene said), she plans to keep abreast of current trends and meet the needs of a lunchtime crowd that wants a healthy meal - fast. Be sure to check out her up-to-date website for coupons and specials (www.lumberjackgrill.com).

JAN DEAN, OWNER of Jan's Corner Café, doesn't see her neighbor as competition. She has been in the restaurant business long enough to know that people like variety and is looking forward to opening her own restaurant in the location of the Round Table. With its windows looking across to the marina and the building's fresh face-lift, Jan has brightened up the restaurant, and is planning on a lodge-type décor. Most importantly, the down-home feel has to stay intact, with neighbors meeting in the early morning for coffee and visiting friends from table to table, while enjoying wholesome, good food. Jan has the experience and expertise to keep it the same as always and at the same time better than ever.

STILL IN THE food line, the Jordan Inn is now open for three meals a day, and its kitchen boasts some of the finest chefs in the region. Mary "Jane" Krumholz is justifiably proud of her wonderful menus, which are replete with fresh ingredients and gourmet selections, to be enjoyed in a dining room that is warmly opulent and reminiscent of a slower-paced, more gracious era. But the Inn is also a bed and breakfast, with 11 themed rooms. "They creat themselves," Krumholz said of the décor, displaying a nautical room that took its character from a pair of antique wall sconces featuring jaunty tall ships. Krumholz is warm and welcoming personally, and brimming with ideas that promise to draw people to East Jordan and the community she has come to love. (The old house's updates extend to every comfort and include a barrier-free ground floor room, handicap accessible - and coffee served elegantly in the parlor.)

ACROSS THE STREET, the mood changes quickly to the present at the Napa Auto Parts store, where owner Jeff Legato works behind the counter alongside Rich Clark (you can almost hear Shorty somewhere back there, too). Jeff started the store in East Jordan after Napa had encouraged him to for a year, but he has been in business in Petoskey for nearly 15 years, including 12 as a business-owner and three with Napa, after they bought him out. There is a need in East Jordan, which Legato feels will be best met by the fact that he has a full line of automotive inventory, and with the store in Petoskey, he is able to provide same-day availability on almost any item. He knows that to stay in business he must have the support of the locals, but he believes that he can earn that be being service-oriented and on the strength of his inventory and prices.

ACROSS FROM THE Main Street Center, Angela Gee, at The Pamper Palace, is excited about the new things she and co-owner Marla Steingoff have planned to spoil their clients. Steinhoff has a new treat prepared - the Facelift Massage Facial, and Angela has ordered a fun selection of jewelry, featuring Italian charm bracelets. But the Pamper Palace prides itself on insisting that for pampering to be real, it has to be healthy. The Pamper Palace is a licensed, FDA-approved and sanitary business. "It is all about education - our own and our customers," Gee said, stressing that she wants her customers to understand the benefits of healthy skin and nails. She and Steinhoff both believe in continuing education classes so that they can bring the newest best services to their customers.

ACROSS TOWN, M&M Hunting and Outdoor Gear and Jordan Valley Homes share a building and parking lot. Mike Tompkins, owner of M&M, has all the good stuff - from black powder to fishing supplies, camping gear and anything and everything for hunting. He is proud of his inventory and his attitude toward his customers. "Being good to customers is the biggest thing," he said. "You have to be willing to bend over backwards to get them anything they want so that they don't have to drive to Gaylord or Petoskey." Tompkins is able to maintain competitive prices by keeping his overhead down, working the store himself and employing family members if he is unable to be there. "If you're nice to people, they'll come back," Tompkins said, summing up a philosophy shared by his co-entrepreneurs.

JORDAN VALLEY HOMES is a spin-off of Moblo's Hilltop Excavating business. Owners Kathy and Glenn Moblo, with their son Robert, maintain both businesses, allowing them to provide a latchkey service that will take a customer from undeveloped land to a finished house, where the Moblos are able to do the excavating, basement, garage, provide the house and do the general contracting. Kathy says that they will even find the property if they know what the customer is looking for. And because they are family-owned, and Jordan Valley Homes is completely owner-staffed, the overhead is low and they are able to offer the homes at very competitive prices, as well as service them locally. "We live in this community," Kathy said. "We don't want people unhappy." They sell, emplace and service Fleetwood Home as well as Commodore and Hi-Tech.

CATCH-A-TAN, in the Glen's Plaza, is the labor of love of Tresa Twitchel. Twitchel is committed to providing her customers with a quality product and a high level of service. She stopped halfway through a wallpapering project (brown paper bags and wallpaper paste, resulting in a leather-like surface) to express her satisfaction with her decision to locate her family and her business in East Jordan. She works hard to provide a friendly climate, listening to her customers, asking questions so that she is able to provide the best services. She believed when she started that there was a need she could fill, and after eight months in business she says she is very confident that she can and will meet that need - and is even considering expanding. "The items that I carry, I use. Religiously," Twitchel said. "It's very earth-friendly."

OUTSIDE OF TOWN on Rogers Road, Tammy and Chris Oliver are earth-friendly, also. They are customer-friendly, too, and work closely with their clients to ensure that folks get the the trees, shrubbery, hanging plants, annuals and perennials that are best for their particular application. Chris's family has had ties to the greenhouse and nursery business for fifty years, but it was a roadside conversation that led to Mom and Pops Greenhouse and Nursery. Chris was cleaning out his father's garden and had a load of irises and lilies in his truck on the side of the road, which he offered his neighbor. The neighbor suggested that he start a nursery. No land, Chris explained; the neighbor said that he and his wife had been looking for someone to work their homestead acreage - and Mom and Pops was born. Family-run (their son works the nursery when he gets out of school), Chris and Tammy have been able to maintain competitive prices. While they look forward to having tourists stop, Chris and Tammy's nursery is geared toward local, repeat business and satisfied customers. They are comfortable with the other growers and florists in town, believing that they don't so much compete as complement other businesses, selling primarily nursery stock and perennials.

REMEMBER THAT ROADSIDE conversation? The neighbor in question was Bill Ashley and his wife Carolyn, whose mother's family originally homesteaded the property on Rogers Road where Mom and Pops and The Cinnamon Tree are located. The property has been in Carolyn's family since 1869 and is known as the Rogers Homestead, and it now is the site of two new East Jordan businesses. Bill and Carolyn's venture, The Cinnamon Tree, is a craft store that markets the work of about fourteen local artists and artisans. The Cinnamon Tree is replete with Bill's ceramics, as well as local soaps, Wagbo syrup, paintings, knitted scarves (each uniquely created by an ornithologist, who provides explanations of nature's inspiration for her color combinations) and glass work. Bill believes we live in the most beautiful area of Michigan, which he thinks accounts for the unusually large artistic presence in this small town. He hopes to continue to provide an outlet for local artwork, and is very committed to the area and to promoting business and art in East Jordan.

BACK DOWNTOWN (at the location of the former Plaid Petunias and the Jordan River Fly Shop), Jennifer Aenis is doing her part at the café Casa and Galleria. Mingling with the rich smells of real latte, cappuccino and espresso are the equally rich visuals of local artists' paintings, wall hangings and unique artwork, such as cigar-box purses and pieced kimonos. The back of the store is Aenis' interior decorating workspace. She opened the coffee shop to meet a local need, and to base Inner Structures, the interior decorating business she has had for five years. She has created several vignettes with furnishings that not only provide customers with a luxurious setting in which to enjoy their coffee, but also demonstrate her decorating skills with the tactile and visual richness of fabric and the role of light and color.

THE VARIETY of new ventures in East Jordan is as profound as the selections at the various restaurants, or the diversity of artwork at the Café and Cinnamon Tree. From auto parts to acrylic nails, artwork to tanning accelerators, real estate to hospitality, intrepid business folks have taken a rish on this little town. Jennifer Aenis said she was drawn to the small town that would like to grow but retain its small-town-ness, and Jane Krumholz said she came to East Jordan for the Inn and fell in love with the folks. And God bless the locals, like the Moblos and the Olivers, who were reared here, believe in East Jordan and were willing to be their bottom dollar on it. It's a new boom; while the quality of these East Jordon proprietors is a throwback to the Good Old Days, their services are state-of-the-art.

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