Tag: small town business

Posted in News and Features

A Look Inside Lifestyle Boutique Ozarks Bittersweet in St. James

Posted on by Amanda

Whether you’re searching for the perfect gift for your bestie’s birthday or you’re in the mood to treat yourself to a little something special, you’ll likely find it at Ozarks Bittersweet, located at 105 N. Jefferson Street, in St. James. 

The mother-daughter owned boutique features a diverse inventory of clothing for women, along with some items for kids, plus women’s accessories like jewelry and purses. Sourcing the clothes from markets in Las Vegas, owner Nancy Hughes, and her daughter Polly, make sure the apparel differs from what you may find in other area shops. Ozarks Bittersweet offers customers a truly curated shopping experience, while the clothing and other inventory reflects that cozy, small town charm you expect to find in a locally-owned lifestyle boutique.

a mannequin wearing a tan sweater that says coffee weather with a long flannel duster over it
The clothing selections at Ozarks Bittersweet range from casual wear to pieces that can be dressed up or down. Photo credit: The Socialite_Amanda Bretz

The clothing items range from casual wear that’s perfect for coffee with a friend or running errands, to dresses, tops, bottoms, and other pieces that could be dressed up or down depending on the occasion. 

Additionally, there’s a selection of items to make your home cozy and beautiful, with everything from scented candles, decorative throw pillows, artificial flower arrangements, lighting, and more. There are also paper goods such as greeting cards and specialty books on a variety of subjects – from making drinks to gardening and more.

a display of bracelets and rings
From bracelets to rings and earrings, the jewelry at the boutique adds that perfect sparkle to your outfit. Photo credit: The Socialite_Amanda Bretz.

If you’re looking for something for the foodie in your life, or you need something to take to your next gathering, there’s also a selection of items like bottled sauces, vinegars, and olives, as well as dry baking mixes, nuts, and other snacks. 

And, in addition to the unique finds, the boutique itself is a lovely retail space. Together with the artful displays throughout the store, there are numerous historical details inside the space that add to the beauty and overall aesthetic. The building is 125 years old and features lots of exposed brick and an arched entryway that’s indicative of the period when it was built.

a wide shot of the store's display of fall home decor with items like lamps, dried flowers, candles, decorative pillows
The store also carries a variety of items for the home like dried flowers, scented candles, lighting and more. Photo credit: The Socialite_Amanda Bretz.

Prior to opening the store, Nancy owned another boutique for over 40 years, also called Ozarks Bittersweet, but that store was located in Anchorage, Alaska, where Nancy lived for over 50 years. When she decided to relocate back to her hometown, she found the vacant space and felt it was the ideal spot to open another boutique and continue the name. 

The 2,500-square-foot store has two rooms indoors, along with an adjacent patio space that features vintage garden decor and plants, seasonally. The store opened in two phases, with part of the space opening by selling Christmas decor last season, while the store in its current version opened in May. Nancy shares that in the short time since it’s opened, the community has embraced the business to the point that she’s thinking about expanding into the adjacent building.

a display of bottles of sauces, vinegar,s and olives
With a selection of sauces, vinegars, condiments, nuts, dried baking mixes, and more, Ozarks Bittersweet is the perfect place to pick up a hostess gift or items to take to your next dinner party. Photo credit: The Socialite_Amanda Bretz.

“We’ll carry more clothing, because that’s our biggest seller,” she says of the possible expansion.

Other items she’s considering for the next phase will include jewelry, Turkish rugs, and greeting cards.

Ozarks Bittersweet is located at 105 N. Jefferson Street, in St. James. Learn more about the business by following it on Facebook or Instagram.

*As we head into the holiday season, I want to highlight more small businesses and I hope to write a Shop Small Holiday Gift Guide that will feature some of the small local shops and businesses that carry gifts (and experiences) for everyone on your holiday gift list. If you’re a small business and want to be considered in the guide, or if you know a great boutique I should include in the guide, fill out the Submit an Event or Story form and I’ll get back to you.

Posted in News and Features

Small Town Socialite is Launching a Website to Serve the Southern Illinois Community

Posted on by Amanda

It’s been two years since I decided to take Small Town Socialite from an idea in my head to a website and social media presence. Although the official launch date for the website didn’t happen until January 2025, I started planning the brand in August of 2024.

Even though I’ve never let my readers know, from the very beginning I have had BIG goals for this small town brand I’m building. I launched the website in Franklin County, Missouri and surrounding areas because that’s where I live, and being in the media industry writing for larger publications in nearby bigger markets like St. Louis, Jefferson City, and Lake of the Ozarks I saw firsthand how the publications in those areas didn’t have much interest in covering small businesses, events, or people in the rural towns in the Franklin County area.

I launched Small Town Socialite as a test, of myself, the brand, and the people in my community. I started with no money, and to this day I’ve still never spent a dime to advertise this website or my social media accounts. Could I have grown faster if I’d poured money into advertising? Probably, but I wanted to see if I could really do this, as an “outsider” who is a transplant to the rural community I write about. I wanted to know if the people would believe in what I’m doing or if this idea was just a huge flop.

The brand recognition is not where I want it to be yet, but my website and social media traffic has only grown with time, purely through word of mouth and people spreading the word both on Facebook and in real conversations with their family and friends. That’s given me the confidence to go back to those BIG goals I set out for myself when I mapped out what I wanted Small Town Socialite to become back in August 2024.

Through my 20 years of working in the media industry I’ve watched publication after publication get bought out by corporations and huge media conglomerates. I’ve watched publications with a long history go belly up. I’ve been a part of the freelance staff that’s watched those beloved publications go away.

And nowhere has been hit as hard as the rural areas. Back in the day, almost every community had a small town, local paper. Now, it’s rare to find a weekly or bi-weekly news outlet in small towns, and it’s even rarer that they’re locally owned or aren’t a part of a larger corporation. To make ends meet, most local papers keep their online content behind a paywall, meaning readers can’t read any articles for free. While I get the reasoning for paywalls, it’s not helpful to the every day person in a small town that just wants to know what’s going on in their community or read an article about the small business down the street from them.

Now that you hopefully understand what motivates me to publish content for free on the internet in a rural community, I want to get to the real point of this post. On August 31, I’m launching Small Town Socialite Southern Illinois, or Small Town Socialite SoIL for short.

I have big plans to launch in other rural regions that lack a centralized media outlet, but I chose to start in Southern Illinois rather than another community in my current state because Southern Illinois was my first home. Both sides of my family called the area home for generations, so what better way to honor my heritage than to expand into an area I already have a deep connection to, and that I know is deeply under-served when it comes to media coverage.

The SoIL site will work just like this one, but every two weeks I’ll be sharing event round ups for the entire Southern Illinois region: from the Metro East, to an area I’m calling the Route 3 Corridor (Red Bud, Sparta, Chester), to Little Egypt, and areas in between. Eventually I’ll share small business and people features from the area as well.

If you’d like to follow along with Small Town Socialite SoIL, follow the page on Facebook or Instagram.

Posted in News and Features

Bourbon Café and Coffee Saloon Serves Home Cookin’ With a Side of Comfort

Posted on by Amanda

Have you ever walked into a place that felt so welcoming that being there almost gave you a sense of déjà vu? Because that’s the kind of vibes I got when I visited Bourbon Café and Coffee Saloon in Bourbon.

Full of knick-knacks, treasures, and lots of references to Dolly Parton – from pictures to quotes and more – the interior is welcoming and almost feels as though you’re stepping into someone’s home. While there’s no shortage of traditional restaurant-style seating in the form of tables and bar-type seats, there’s also a cozy sofa and chairs, inviting guests to relax with a coffee and book, or chat with friends. And near the front of the dining area is a stage where musicians perform, adding to the ambiance.

Broccoli cheese soup from Bourbon Cafe and Coffee Saloon. Photo credit: The Socialite_Amanda Bretz

I visited the café twice within a matter of ten days or so and on my first trip (a solo adventure) I sat near the stage and enjoyed the woman playing the fiddle and singing old hymnals with a country twang. I didn’t catch her name while in the restaurant, but after scouring the café’s Facebook, I found a video identifying her as Kathy. She’s wonderful and her voice and style of playing makes me a little emotional. I grew up listening to many family members on my mom’s side sing and play instruments in what I tend to think of as that old-timey Appalachian style, sorta bluegrass, sorta gospel, sorta old Western saloon, that comes straight from the heart.

Three Blind Mice panini. Photo credit: The Socialite_Amanda Bretz

Listening to that music did my soul a lot of good, and all that ambiance won me over before I even tasted the food. I have followed the business on Facebook for a while now, so I knew that some menu selections rotate each week.

I visited first during lunch and later at breakfast. I also knew from social media that the made in house dessert offerings change weekly. The sweet treats range from a lemon cake with lemon buttercream (which I got as a to-go order on my first visit but forgot to photograph, delicious by the way!) to chocolate cake, gluten-free gooey butter and more.

One of the cakes that the cafe serves sometimes is Truvy’s cuppa, cuppa, cuppa cake. If you don’t know what that means, it’s a reference to Dolly Parton’s character in the 1980s movie “Steel Magnolias,” and that character’s famous cake recipe. I was hopeful that the cake would be on the menu on one of my visits, but no dice, so I’ll have to go back sometime just for the cake, because guys, I was raised on this movie!

Bagel panini. Photo credit: The Socialite_Amanda Bretz

During the breakfast visit, my hubby ordered a bagel sandwich, which he let me have precisely one bite of! It was really good, and since I love eggs benedict that’s what I chose and it didn’t disappoint! We visited on Fourth of July, a Friday, so the biscuits and gravy weren’t on the menu (that’s a weekend-only offering), so I have yet another item I can’t wait to try on my next visit.

Eggs benedict. Photo credit: The Socialite_Amanda Bretz

During lunch, I ordered the three blind mice panini, a staple on the lunch menu and it was so, so, so good. I mean cream cheese on a grilled cheese, whaaaat? And I got the soup of the week that week, which was broccoli cheese, and so comforting, it almost made me wish it were autumn. The soup was loaded with bite-sized pieces of broccoli and a creamy, cheesy base, topped with crunchy croutons and shredded cheese.

It was clear that everything I had at the restaurant on both visits was homemade right at the café and it was all so yummy! While I was in town, I browsed through some of the other nearby businesses, like CDR Naturals Health Food Store located next door, Half-Crocked Antiques in Bourbon, and I plan to drop by other restaurants and shops on my next trip.

The Socialite recommends Bourbon Café and Coffee Saloon in Bourbon!

The details:
373 East Pine Street, Bourbon
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