Holmen gets shoe store, Bangor an art studio

Taj Hauser’s love for his Nike Kobe Bryant basketball shoes led him and his father, Andy, to begin buying and selling sneakers online and by word of mouth, three years ago from the family’s basement.

And the growth of that business in turn led them to open their @kicks shoe store in September in the new Holmen Plaza building at 103 State St. in downtown Holmen. It’s one of several businesses in the building, which Chad and Karen McCathie built at the former Holmen public library site.

The store has a variety of the hottest-selling kinds of shoes for men, women and children, priced at $25 and above. Some of its collector shoes sell for thousands of dollars.

The Hausers buy, sell and trade shoes, both new and used. “If we feel there’s a market for it, we’ll buy it,” Andy said. The store also sells other merchandise, such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies and water bottles, some bearing the @kicks logo. And it continues to sell products on its website.

If the new store doesn’t have the shoes that a customer is looking for, Andy said, “We can usually track down your style and size within a couple weeks or so.”

Taj, who is 14 and a freshman on the Holmen High School junior varsity boys basketball team, also has a passion for basketball. His love for that sport and for sneakers prompted him and his father to visit sneaker shops throughout the Midwest while they were attending basketball tournaments.

“They felt really comfortable,” Taj said of his first pair of Nike Kobe Bryant shoes. “That really got me into shoes. I started to see the value in them.”

Business has been good, so Taj and Andy are talking about opening additional stores. “We’re going to always keep this one,” Taj said. “But we’ve looked at opening more stores around this area.”

Andy has been an entrepreneur for more than 20 years, working in fields such as housing and marine sale and service. He owns Team Marine Service in La Crosse.

The shoe store’s regular hours are usually 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Saturday from 8 a.m. to “as long as there’s traffic into the store, sometimes into the evening,” Andy said. “You can find us on Instagram at @atkicksstore for weekly updated times and free shoe giveaways.”

For more information, call 608- 797-3779 or visit www.atkicksstore.com or the store’s Facebook page.

Katie Meyer opened The Art Room art studio in October in a renovated 123-year-old garage on Pearl Street, between 15th and 16th streets, in Bangor. It’s next to her family’s home at 1507 Oak St. (which can be used for GPS purposes), and is a block from downtown Bangor.

The art studio offers art classes to people of all ages. “I teach all of the classes,” said Meyer, who taught grades K-12 art in schools in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Maine for eight years. “Most recently I was an adjunct professor at Viterbo University in the art/education department for the past four years,” she said. She has a bachelor’s degree in pottery from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a master’s degree in art education from the University of Minnesota. Her own artwork includes pottery, refinishing antique furniture, interior design and watercolor.

At the studio, Meyer said, some class topics include acrylic on canvas painting, watercolor painting techniques, wire sculpture, observation drawing skills, printmaking, mixed media, paper mache and some craft classes that are offered on request such as making ornaments. “I include art history facts and art-making vocabulary in every art class,” she said.

The studio has a kids art club that meets every other Friday. “I also host private events for art-making parties, such as birthday parties, work events and ladies nights,” Meyer said. “And I teach preschooler and adult classes as well as host home school groups of students, offering a high-quality art curriculum.”

For more information, call 608-769-3094 or visit the studio’s Facebook page.

Danielle Olson opened her new My Wild Child children’s boutique on Wednesday at 210 S. Main St. in downtown Viroqua.

The new store offers children’s clothing made with natural fiber and that as much as possible is locally made. It also sells such things as children’s books, toys made from natural materials such as wood and organic cotton, coats and other outdoor gear, cloth diapers and maternity items.

“We also offer a small amount of high-quality children’s consignment gear, a ‘give-it-forward’ rack with jackets or other seasonally appropriate free gear, a restful ‘mommy nook’ with coffee, couches and toys (for children to play with) and a small, intimate rental space,” Olson said.

Winter store hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. “In the summer, we might extend hours,” Olson said. She plans to hold a grand opening celebration but has not scheduled it yet.

Olson said her family moved from managing a 200-acre regenerative farm in northwestern Illinois to the Viroqua are in late summer for more community, access to organic food, outdoor education options and excellent recreation.

For more information, call 307-258-2926 or visit www.mywildchildboutique.com or the boutique’s Facebook page.