A new place opens up Palmer's Sweetery & Cafe
It's next door to the old Highland Place, where the kids clothing store was. I went in, it looks great and the staff were really friendly, but I was looking for something specific and they had just soft opened so they didn't have a full array of goods yet. Still, it has a lot of potential so I'll be going back.
Got a black pepper cheddar cheese biscuit there this morning, it was very good. I hear their coffee is fantastic, although I didn't try it. Staff is delightful!
emmie said:
Got a black pepper cheddar cheese biscuit there this morning, it was very good. I hear their coffee is fantastic, although I didn't try it. Staff is delightful!
Same! And my boys loved their cookies. A high chair would have been helpful for us but otherwise we enjoyed it very much.
We got there first thing this morning so they were still rolling out the goods...got a banana muffin (yum), a corn muffin (with honey and sea salt, YUM), a chocolate chip scone (yum), and a wonderful cappuccino. The space is great and the owners are so friendly. Really looking forward to reversing all the hard work I've done to get rid of the baby weight there.
Why is it that Maplewood Village gets these quaint, charming cafes, while South Orange gets places like Mara's--bad chains with bad food and bad service. Does nobody want to open a place like Palmer's in South Orange?
petal said:
Maplewood is quaint, so it gets the quaint establishments.
True, agree totally.
Kimaya Kama started in South Orange. The location was out of the way and cramped. the owner wanted to stay in South Orange, but there was no space the right size that she could afford. I was happy that she got something in Maplewood. Huge spaces like Blockbuster are not conducive for small individual proprietorship. It is just about impossible for small businesses to survive these days. I don't see how South Orange makes it welcoming to small businesses.
There are some very nice places in SO, such as Sparkhouse Toys and Kitchen A La Mode, but overall, the town seems to lack the kind of local entrepreneurs--particularly in the restaurant industry--who open up places in Maplewood.
gerryl said:
Kimaya Kama started in South Orange. The location was out of the way and cramped. the owner wanted to stay in South Orange, but there was no space the right size that she could afford. I was happy that she got something in Maplewood. Huge spaces like Blockbuster are not conducive for small individual proprietorship. It is just about impossible for small businesses to survive these days. I don't see how South Orange makes it welcoming to small businesses.
relx said:
Why is it that Maplewood Village gets these quaint, charming cafes, while South Orange gets places like Mara's--bad chains with bad food and bad service. Does nobody want to open a place like Palmer's in South Orange?
South Orange also had BPS. Yes, it is closed now but not due to lack of customers. You don't get much quaint than BPS was.
And yet, one of the last conversations I had with Laura was about her leaving that cramped space (due to several factors) and looking for a bigger space in Maplewood.
relx said:
Why is it that Maplewood Village gets these quaint, charming cafes, while South Orange gets places like Mara's--bad chains with bad food and bad service. Does nobody want to open a place like Palmer's in South Orange?
Shops come and go. The question I would ask is whether or not S.O. is better off than, say, 10 years ago (I have no idea what the answer is, but that is how you have to look at it). I would think that with all of the high density housing, things should be looking up for the downtown area.
Keep in mind Sparkhouse had to move. I think they also had landlord problems.
Palmer's Sweetery & Cafe is open downtown. It's where the old Highland place was. Anyone been?