A familiar downtown business in Viola is getting a fresh new look—and laying the groundwork for exciting things to come.
Prairie Crossroads Mercantile, owned by Chase and Jackie Burns, has been closed for about a week as renovations take place on the historic building. But when the doors reopen on April 2nd, visitors will see several upgrades aimed at improving both the function and the charm of the space.
Chase Burns says the most noticeable change is to the storefront, which had seen better days.
“The old storefront was pretty well rotten,” he said. “We put some paint on it and made it look a little nicer, but it desperately needed replaced.”
Crews from East Moline Glass have been tearing out the old windows and doors and installing new ones. In the process, some unique architectural features were uncovered.
“We exposed these cool old columns,” Burns said. “When we found those we just knew we had to restore them and make that part of the final facade too.”
The renovation is taking a little longer than planned—about a week longer—but the result will be a more welcoming, energy-efficient space with a bit more room to work with.
And that extra space will come in handy. Burns confirms that an expansion is in the works, including plans to eventually move their ice cream offerings into their own dedicated space in the building’s southeast corner. A walk-up window has already been installed as part of that future project.
“We just ripped out all the tile floor down there,” he said. “That space is in serious construction right now, so it isn’t going to happen immediately when the Mercantile reopens, but it is the next space that’s in progress.”
In the meantime, Prairie Crossroads Mercantile will continue to offer ice cream and other locally sourced goods from its current setup when it reopens April 2nd. The new additions are just part of a larger vision to bring more activity and community space to downtown Viola—including a long-term restoration project at the Viola Opera House.