The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Living a fairy tale
Scarlett opens storybook-themed cafe
By Krystle Dunham, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: March 13, 2008
April Scarlett's love for children's literature has gone one step further, when she decided to bring fairy-tales to life.
Advertisement
Scarlett, who lives in Saline, has recently opened a storybook-themed play cafÈ called Beanstalks in the downtown area.
The business is family owned and is located in the completely restored, century-old former Methodist church building at 117 S. Ann Arbor St. The building is located within Saline's central business district.
Beanstalks joins the growing trend of businesses geared toward family-oriented play and recreation.
"The hope is to have the kids step into their favorite story," Scarlett said.
The center offers a giant, fairy-tale theme play structure, game room, retail area, seating with a light food menu and gourmet coffee catering to parents and children.
There is also a toddler area, a game room, flat screen televisions, wireless Internet access, story times, book giveaways, parties and special events.
Scarlett said her business differs from other children's play and recreation businesses, by entertaining the parents, while the kids have a place to play.
"It's a local hangout for moms and dads," she said. "Beanstalks is very parent friendly."
The 37-year-old business owner previously worked at AT&T for 16 years. In that time, she said she took her sons Stone, 12, and Sam, 5, to similar businesses in Canton and Chelsea, but had a hard time finding a place that accommodated working parents.
Besides working at AT&T, Scarlett is a secondary education student at Washtenaw Community College and has discovered a love for children's literature.
It was during her children's literature classes and conversations with her two sons that she came up with the idea of opening the play cafÈ. Scarlett said she had always wanted to see kids have a place to play.
Scarlett describes herself and her husband, Jim, as "coffee connoisseurs" and thought having a coffee bar with the play area would be just the right fit.
Jim is the other partner in the business, but Scarlett will run operations while he continues to work full-time for AT&T.
When Scarlett was deciding on a name for her business, she wanted to come up with a something that related to coffee beans and have a fairy-tale theme to it.
Once she thought of the children's story "Jack and the Beanstalk," the name Beanstalks was created.
"Luckily, the name wasn't taken," she said. "It just fit."
The center also puts on birthday-themed parties.
Scarlett previously owned a children's party-planning business for five years that was run out of her home. The business was a place where customers were not limited to just one party and Beanstalks will be the same way.
Sarah Polens of Traverse City decided to have her son Nathan's second birthday party at Beanstalks after seeing an ad in a weekly magazine.
Polens said a lot of her family lives in Saline and thought Beanstalks would be the best option for the birthday party.
"They did a great job. They had everything set up and took care of everything," Polens said. "We've done other birthday parties before and we always had to take care of everything."
Daniel Stewart, of Michigan Commercial Realty and one of the owners of the Beanstalks property, said: "April's business benefits from the unique nature of the setting. People will remember not only Beanstalks, but also the building itself."
Michigan Commercial Realty purchased the property from Jim and Marcia Duncan, who had operated their gift shop, the Calico Cat in the former church since the early 1990s. The Calico Cat remained as a tenant until April 2006 and then became vacant until Beanstalks took possession in October 2007.
"April is very creative and the building provided the right canvas for her," Stewart said. "The building is a landmark and customers will connect with it. That's very helpful for any destination-oriented business."
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
