Hotel Chauncey will close on Sunday and hotelVetro has already closed. Like SpareMe Bowl & Arcade, which will close its doors for the final time on Wednesday night, the two downtown Iowa City hotels are owned by Hawkeye Hotels. The closure of the two hotels was first reported by Corridor Business Journal on Monday. Hawkeye […]
Iowa City business
Posted inCommunity/News
SpareMe, beloved bowling and pinball destination in downtown Iowa City, is shutting down
SpareMe Bowl & Arcade is closing. The downtown Iowa City bowling alley will shut its door for the last time on Wednesday night, SpareMe announced Friday on social media. It will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. until then. Heather Soseman, SpareMe’s general manager, told Little Village she was told informally last […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Kitty-corner from the Old Cap is a social club so charming, you’ll want to take home the staff
The first cat café in the world opened in Taipei, Taiwan in 1998. Called Cat Flower Garden, it was born out of its founders’ love for local strays and from a desire to set their café apart from others in the area. All the cats are permanent residents of the cafe. The concept quickly spread […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The fourth employee-turned-owner of Daydreams Comics plans to keep the shop people-centric
Daydreams Comics was crowded on Saturday afternoon, which wasn’t a surprise. It was Free Comic Book Day (FCBD), a nationwide annual event that happens on the first Saturday of May, and this year it fell on May 4, a day celebrated by Star Wars fans every year. “I should have ordered more,” Daydreams owner Nathan Parriott […]
Posted inCommunity/News
LV Recommends: Harry’s Bar & Grill is an old-school diner with distinctly Iowa City DNA
Like its seasonal student population, Iowa City is constantly in a state of change. Brand-new downtown diner Harry’s Bar & Grill (116 E Washington St) is offering a chance to step back in time to Iowa City in the ’60s and ’70s, when a beloved and campy landmark bookstore called Epstein’s Books still existed. The […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Revival’s vibrators are a bestseller — and spreading good vibes about sexual wellness
I can’t be the only Iowan who has found herself opening an incognito tab in a dispiriting search for a decent vibrator. Driving across the state on I-80, you’re bound to see a few billboards for adult stores selling plasticky sex toys out of warehouses with truck-friendly parking lots. Chains like Romantix, Spencer’s and Lion’s […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Affordable housing, art and excellent tacos: Angie Jordan is leading efforts to build up Iowa City’s South District
Angie Jordan believes every neighborhood has doers. But Iowa City’s South District is chock full of them. “This is a daily grind,” said Jordan, president of the South District Neighborhood Association. “This isn’t something one person did or one organization did. This was a forever commitment that started in the neighborhood with those who wanted […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Farewell, fried chicken: John’s Grocery is closing its kitchen
John’s Grocery began serving customers freshly prepared food in the 1950s, a few years after the family-owned store opened in 1948. John Alberhasky’s wife Erma “couldn’t stand seeing all of the junior high kids eating penny candy for lunch, so [she] started making nickel ham-salad sandwiches and [her] famous potato salad,” according to the store’s […]
Posted inCommunity/News
After more than a century serving Iowa City, Varsity Cleaners is closing
After 106 years in Iowa City, Varsity Cleaners is closing. “Obviously COVID is one of the deciding factors here,” owner Dave Geasland told Little Village. “It’s totally destroyed the dry cleaning business, and the dry cleaning business had already been in decline for the last 10 years.” Indeed, dry cleaners across the country and around […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Beadology, a fixture on E Washington Street for 15 years, has moved
“My life pattern has been every 10 or 15 years, a new opportunity presents itself to me,” Karen Kubby said, taking a break from packing up inventory at Beadology. At various points in her life, Kubby has been a high school science teacher, the executive director of the Emma Goldman Clinic and a member of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Revival returns to Ped Mall building after ‘major facelift’
Revival reopened its doors on the Ped Mall to shoppers on Thursday after closing them more than a year ago due to building renovations. “I’m excited to reopen,” said founder and owner Sheila Davisson. “It feels so good to be back in our space. It feels like home with a major facelift.” The renovations completely […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The Hall Mall is dead, long live the Hall Mall!
“I came up with the Hall Mall name,” Kirk Stephan said through chuckles as he recalled opening what would become Iowa City’s original incubator of small businesses in the early 1970s. “I wanted to have a longer one, but it turned out that advertisers charged more money the more letters you had!” More than a […]
