White Rabbit

 White Rabbit was started several years ago by Cortnie and me. It was an extremely modest shop, upstairs in the Hall Mall. Looking back it seems like an insane gamble on a half baked idea. Over the years  and hundreds of conversations the vision has become more focused. We moved above the 'Yacht Club' in a 400 square foot room, then into the old 'Fun Zone' space currently occupied by 'Lorenz' (about 700 square feet). We decided to roll the dice and move into a space 2 and a half times bigger. The old drop ceiling and business carpeting are things of the past for White Rabbit. This new space has full height ceilings, and hardwood floors. At this point it is extremely raw and there is 2 months to re-do it.

 This is the old back door for this space. It was decided that we needed a door that was not letting wind, rain and snow in, so it was replace by a steel door. This one had a pretty sweet look, so we decided to frame in the back wall and use it there, as the door to the back room. We also had to close in the 'window'.

 Thanks to some hard work by a lot of folks (Joel Anderson, William Whitmore and Jarrett Mitchell, Cortnie Widen, Phil Maul and Kathy Widen especially), we got it all turned around. This is how it looked right before opening the doors. Shelving is made, floors refinished. new lighting, double dressing rooms, etc etc....

Jarrett Mitchell is a very good friend of mine. He also runs 'Wake Up Iowa City'. Along with Will Whitmore, Jarrett and I built this coffee bar. There were some challenges along the way, but I am excited for how it turned out. Having Iowa City's best coffee shop inside the store I open daily rules!

 A few months into the new spot and the shelves are full of locally made arts and crafts, and we have some fantastic artists displaying in the gallery space. The artwork above the shelving is by Ryan Garbes and Shawn Reed of the band 'Wet Hair'. Shawn also runs Night People Records.

 Once a month we do an art reception for that month's artist. They are generally well attended.

I love the people White Rabbit attracts. With so many artists, writers, printmakers, musicians, seamstresses, etc selling out of the store, the types of people coming in are extremely varied.