- Whether it's a clothing store, coffee shop, or a shop cultivated for more specific interests, the Countryside Village center serves more than customers.
- It connects small businesses, not only under similar signboards, but with a sense of nostalgia and community, say local business owners.
- Now, new tenants are moving in, and they describe the charm of Countryside Village as a reason to leave places they previously leased.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Along the busy Pacific Street sits a village of small business where time seems to stop.
"I love the nostalgia that Countryside Village has,"
A space with a small-town feel, but still within the city.
That character — attracting a well-known spot from the Metcalfe Park neighborhood.
"Countryside Village for us was kind of expanding within a community, we were in a standalone before in just one part of town," said Saddle Creek Breakfast Club Operations Manager Brynne Roth.
Saddle Creek Breakfast Club will fill the space where a pharmacy once sat, and later, Nebraska’s first standalone Starbucks.
"We had like the shoe store, we had the men's clothing store, we had Earl May Garden Center, said Patty Dudziak of Village Grinder. So they had the flowers, we had a grocery store, a hardware store, so it was kind of like an all-purpose for the neighborhood."
41 years ago, Patty Dudziak opened her business here: Village Grinder.
While she's seen many businesses come and go, the feeling of the Village has stayed the same.
"This is what Countryside Village is. So Saddle Creek Breakfast Club, and like Cedar, they are using our coffee. “The best way to describe it is just community and everybody knows everybody in here. People walk in ‘it's hi, how are you,’ I know their mom, I know their dad, I know their brother."
That feeling caught Cindy Guenzel's eye as a top location for her business, Rooted Table, and its mission.
"One part is nourishing people with food, with plants; and then the other part is people thrive together. And so helping build that connect and root people into their community, so it has been really fun to be here."
Their test kitchen has been open here since September. But it's here behind this green door where they will officially open soon.
"We are here to build community and to feel connection and I feel that with all the business owners here."
From pizza to sushi, ice cream and more, as Villagers like Patty get some new neighbors. "It's great, it's wonderful," the community here grows.
Rooted Table and Saddle Creek Breakfast Club are still putting the finishing touches on their spaces and will announce grand opening dates coming up.
At Countryside Village, I’m Molly Hudson, your central Omaha neighborhood reporter.
