Elkhart Station General Store enjoys a huge turnout for opening day

 

[March 06, 2022] 

Friday morning it was shoulder to shoulder shoppers at the grand opening of the new Elkhart Station General Store in Elkhart.

The new business, owned by Conn Hospitality features only Illinois-made products, but in a huge variety from food, wines, cheeses, soda, jewelry, home décor, clothing and much more.

Karen Conn of Conn Hospitality was very excited about the opening of the store that was at one point in time a tavern named Buck’s according to Logan County native Bob Farmer. The same location is also more recently the Blue Moon Café. The store now reflects some of its former personality with the checkout station being located at a half moon shaped bar that was possibly part of the first business in the building.

Conn said that while her company calls Springfield its home-base, there are a variety of businesses operating within the Conn group that are spread around the middle part of the state.

In addition, Conn Hospitality owns the old Gillette Farm in Elkhart and is looking forward to opening a winery there in the foreseeable future. She noted that the Conn’s have planted 2,500 grape vines at the farm and are looking forward to expanding into the winery when the time is right.

She said that she had a large number of chickens at the farm and the new store is currently offering farm-fresh eggs from her chickens.

Conn says that Elkhart is a good place to be for the new business. She referred to the town on the whole as “typical Americana” and during a ribbon cutting ceremony at the beginning of the day noted that the goal of increasing Route 66 tourism traffic into Elkhart is a big part of the company’s choice of location.

Karen Conn led the ribbon cutting and when it was time to snip the ribbon, she joined her husband Court behind the ribbon along with other members of Conn Corporate and the new manager of Elkhart Station. Together Karen and Court cut the ribbon and invited everyone to come back inside and continue shopping the large selection of items for sale.

The general store will be managed by Conn Employee Rachael Bennett-Paul from Riverton. Conn said that Bennett-Paul is accustomed to small town living and business and is very excited about running the new business in Elkhart.

On Friday morning, the crowd in attendance was remarkable and the long line of shoppers waiting to reach out the check-out station was very impressive. Guests were gathering items from collectible Elkhart mugs to something called Ski soda manufactured in Lebanon, Illinois to candy from Arndt’s in Newton, Illinois, and items such as cheeses, ground coffees, and much more.

The store is located at 101 Governor Oglesby Street, the primary street through town from Route 66. The store will be open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

[Nila Smith]