Glimpse | Moose Among EC's Migrant Retail Species

Colorado-based deli franchise to open w/ local owners in Phoenix Park

Charlotte Pike |

    “If you build it,” residental renters will immediately move in, but risky initial costs amid a scary economy will make commercial investors drag their feet. Eventually, though, “they will come.” That’s what Phoenix Park bigwig Geoff Moeding has been saying all along, while his retail spaces stayed empty. And now we believe him. Two new businesses will be setting up shop as soon as September, including a deli and clothing store (this is added to Cost Cutters and Thompson Photography that recently took two spaces). Smiling Moose Deli is a Colorado-based franchise and will be located in the building on the corner of Riverfront Terrace and Madison Street. Two local women, Lisa Schuetz and Colleen Weber, will be heading up the business and serving sandwiches, soup, salad, and all-day breakfast to hungry Chippewa Vallians. Looks like oven-roasted sandwiches are the signature item. Trinidad and Tobago native Renata Sarauer will be responsible for adding color to downtown with her clothing store that strives to give us a taste of Caribbean markets. Sarauer has lived in Eau Claire for six years, and a few years back she won a $1,000 Entrepreneurial Training scholarship from Downtown Eau Claire Inc’s Jump-Start competition. (Smiling Moose just won first place in the same competition). The last time we talked with her she was hoping to stock vibrant clothing geared toward the college crowd. The boutique will be located in the Wisconsin Street building (the orange and black one) next to Thompson Photography.