Corner Trading Post Aims to Bring Community Hub Back to Springdale

Jessica Garza didn’t set out to open a coffee shop. The owner of Moose Valley Ranch, and her husband, Christopher Garza, had originally purchased the building and property on the corner of Highway 231 and 292 in Springdale as an investment. After a few months, though, Jessica Garza said they began to see something else: a need for a place where people could go and be proud of, and the desire to have things close in town. That realization became the Corner Trading Post, a western-themed drive-thru coffee and food stop that Garza said she hopes will grow into both a convenient stop and a gathering place for Springdale residents. “When you talk about the community feel and just having your own thing, it’s been a really long time since Springdale has had something like that that can drive the community and become a place where people gather and that they can be really proud of, so we set out to start to fill that void,” Garza said. Garza said the goal was never to compete with nearby businesses, but to give Springdale something of its own. “There are some amazing coffee shops in the next town over. It’s not about competing with them. It’s about wanting to give our community the same sense of pride and ownership of a thriving business on such a prominent corner,” Garza said. “I have no experience in coffee or coffee shop ownership, but I love drinking it and I love the way entire communities form around them.” The process moved quickly. Garza said it took just 37 days from the idea and business formation to a surprise opening. “I wasn’t willing to consider anything until we had the building painted,” she said. “Once that was done, we started actively looking for possible tenants and then we decided to pivot again and open the business ourselves.” Garza said previous business experience helped the family move fast. “Thankfully, this wasn’t our first business so we had a lot of processes set up we could duplicate,” she said. “It definitely took so many things falling into place – we took those as obvious signs that we were headed in the right direction.” The branding came together just as quickly. Garza said she wanted Corner Trading Post to fit alongside the Moose Valley Ranch brand, so the business embraced a western look from the start. “I knew I wanted to have a brand that fit with our Moose Valley Ranch brand so we took the western vibe and ran with it,” she said. “Our first branding shoot, we brought horses into town and shot at 4 a.m. to try and keep it under wraps.” Garza said she approached the process as a learning experience, relying on help from others and accepting the mistakes that come with building something new. So far, the community response has exceeded what Garza expected. “I’ve been absolutely gobsmacked by their response,” she said. “Once we started painting, we had people stopping by and sending messages thanking us. They’ve been so appreciative of the cleaning up we’ve done, and so excited to see what is planned.” That support has extended to the staff, she said. “The baristas have said that they’ve never felt so welcomed by a community, and have been blown away by how kind the folks are,” Garza said. “Not just in words, the community has been showing up over and over again to support the business, they’ve been sharing it with their friends and online.” Corner Trading Post offers a wide variety of drinks, including espresso, cold brew, milkshakes, Lotus drinks, smoothies, iced tea, and dirty sodas. Garza said the shop uses LaShaw Ranch Roasters from Rockford for espresso beans, ground coffee, and white coffee. Food options include cinnamon rolls, sweet breads, dessert bars, protein balls, cookies, muffins, breakfast burritos, lunch sandwiches, and weekend biscuits and gravy. “The huge breakfast burritos are a hit,” Garza said. “We’ve been pushing hard to keep them in stock because they’re wildly popular. The cinnamon rolls are so loved, our baker had to triple her batch size.” The shop has also introduced signature sandwiches, Garza said, including the “cluckin’ croissant,” made with chicken salad, and the “high country bagel,” featuring pesto bacon cream cheese schmear with turkey. She added that their drinks are also catching the attention of customers as well. “The signature spicy cowgirl is a specialty Mexican chile syrup and dark chocolate cold brew with sweet cream on top, you can’t get it anywhere else around here and people are loving it,” Garza said. “My favorite is when the tough cowboys ask for a spicy cowgirl at the window.” For now, the business is operating with one drive-thru window, but Garza said the long-term vision includes indoor seating, patio space, and more room for people to stay awhile. There are no plans for it to become a traditional restaurant; Garza said she wants to stick with a casual vibe. “We have plans to open the doors,” she said. “There’s more work to be done, and changes that still have to be made to the inside. We will have to hire more staff, which is wild to say.” Garza said the location once felt like a center point in town, and she hopes Corner Trading Post can help bring that feeling back. “When I was growing up, that corner felt like the hub of the area and I’d like to see that again,” she said. The drive-thru will remain a key part of the business, especially because of its size and convenience. “There’s no other drive thru in town, especially not one that can get an entire semi through, so we plan to keep that going,” Garza said. “But we do want to get people sitting in at the counter, visiting with friends on the patio, and working from a table.” Opening a business in a small town brings both opportunity and pressure, Garza said. Still, Garza said the responsibility comes from wanting to create something the community will value. “It’s simultaneously terrifying and exciting,” she said. “Everyone knows you and, with our location, they can see everything going on, so it’s a bit of a fishbowl experience; compounded by sharing on social media, it’s been hard to keep anything a secret for long. The responsibility that comes from wanting to do right by the town, and the weight of creating something you hope they love, is a lot.” Garza added she loves to take on new projects and new ideas, so it was an easy leap to make, but there were many nights wondering if they could pull it off. “We want this town to be thriving, and getting to be a small part of it is amazing, creating jobs, and bringing folks to town is a huge part of what we do,” Garza said. A grand opening celebration is planned once indoor seating is ready. Until then, Garza said the shop will continue adding new items and expanding what it offers. “Check back often to see what we’ve added,” she said. “We will have a grand opening celebration once the indoor seating is ready.”