When Natalie Barclay was a senior at Homer High School, she would come home each day to enjoy a cup of coffee with her mom.
Amber Barclay was running a daycare center in her home at the time, and the daily cup of coffee with her daughter led to a lot of discussions about life — including starting up a coffee shop.
“I took a business class in high school, and one of the project was to build your own business,” Natalie said.
The business? A coffee shop, naturally.
Taking a short break after three years working at Scooter’s Coffee in South Sioux City, Natalie discovered that starting your own coffee shop is even more fun than working at one.
“I worked at Scooter’s and I just loved it. It was the best job I’ve ever had,” she said. “I loved the atmosphere and chatting with people and building those relationships. I tried doing an ‘adult’ job for a few months but nothing felt the same.”
With that idea in mind, she and her mother opened Good Roots Coffee Co. at its location in downtown Homer this past summer.
“We had always talked about opening a coffee shop, because we’re coffee people,” she said.
Her mother agreed.
“When I was little, my grandmother would make us cappuccinos and we’d sit around the coffee table and talk,” Amber said. “Even after I had my kids, we’d go visit her and she’d always have coffee ready.”
Coming from a family of entrepreneurs (father Jessie owns his own construction company), it seemed only natural that Natalie would come up with the idea. And the timing and location couldn’t have been better.
“We were only using this space once a week for yoga classes,” said Amber Barclay, who also has her own massage therapy in their 17 John Street location. “Natalie came up with the idea of opening her own coffee shop, and we thought this would be the perfect space for it.”
One step inside the business will tell you all you need to know — with comfortable seating and a pleasant, friendly vibe, the coffee shop is a great place to stop in and sit down for a cup of coffee.
It’s a popular location in town during the morning, as well as in the afternoon after the kids get out of school.
“When I was a kid, there wasn’t much to do in town except walk across the highway to the convenience store, and that wasn’t always the safest option,” Natalie said. “Now, the kids can come down here and hang out and don’t have to go across the highway to get a treat.”
Good Roots not only offers a variety of coffee and energy drink options, but some tasty homemade treats as well, including cookies and breakfast sandwiches.
“Everything is homemade,” Amber said. “We had explored outsourcing our food options, but nothing is as good as homemade and we use the best recipes from my mom’s old family recipes written on recipe cards that we still refer back to.”
And if you’re not sure what the difference is between a latte and a cappuccino, they are more than helpful in offering suggestions.
“This is the safest space to mess up your order,” Amber said. “Natalie is really good at coming up with suggestions and it’s a good place to learn about coffee and ask questions. We want the space to be comfortable, and if you don’t know what a latte is or want to try something different, she’s ready to help out.”
Good Roots also offers some products from local entrepreneurs, something that Amber is anxious to talk about.
“We try to sell as many local products and give local entrepreneurs a chance to showcase their businesses,” she said. “We have honey from Mike VanArsdale, who is a local beekeeper, and Erin Bonneau from Bancroft. She is a Homer alumni and we sell her candles here as well.”
The coffee shop takes a break during the midday, opening early (6:30-11 a.m.) for those who enjoy a morning cup of joe and after school (2-5 p.m.) for the kids to stop by and get a cookie or an energy drink. (They are also open Saturday mornings from 7 a.m.-noon).
“We get most of our traffic in the morning, and we also wanted to cater to those kids after school,” Natalie said. “In between, that is when we got to our distributor to get supplies, stop by the grocery store to get baking supplies and take care of some of those business things like payroll and ordering.”
Amber’s massage therapy business, Good Roots Massage & Wellness, also has its doors open during the day. It was the original idea for the business, and something that Amber took on as a new career after her daycare days were done.
“When my youngest son started preschool, I knew it was time to re-evaluate where my life was going and I have had a love for natural and holistic medicine, so I went back to school for massage therapy and enjoy taking care of people,” she said.
The two businesses are something that keeps small towns like Homer going, and that is important to the Barclays.
“The coffee shop isn’t just for ourselves,” Amber explained. “The things we add, we have our community in mind and are always wanting to make it better. Something was missing here that everyone could go to and this is something everybody in the community can benefit from.”
And it’s a great way to make someone’s day, too.
“It’s been a great opportunity to meet people, and sometimes just a cup of coffee makes somebody’s day,” Natalie said.
