Talking business: Interior designer sets up shop in Rapid City

By Dan Daly, Journal staff | Thursday, May 10, 2007

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Jayne Kessel is originally from Wisconsin, but in the past 14 years, she and her family have lived in seven states. They’ve been in Rapid City a year and a half now, and Jayne is formally hanging out her shingle as an interior designer.

Jayne E. Kessel Interior Designer is her Rapid City home-based business.

She attended design school in Wisconsin. She used to work for Ethan Allen, the big home-furnishings manufacturer and retailer. She also was a senior designer at Gabberts Furniture & Design Studio in Minneapolis.

In addition, she is a card-carrying member of the American Society of Interior Designers.

In Rapid City, she has been working with Ethan Allen furniture, Stickley Furniture and local retailers. She sometimes teams up with Rapid City kitchen designer Eileen Burkholder.

Kessel is also working with some members of Artists of the Black Hills to place their pieces in area homes. “The artists here are phenomenal,” she said.

In fact, she said Rapid City reminds her of Taos, N.M., in some ways.

For more information, call 390-5378 or send an e-mail to jekessel@yahoo.com.

Restaurants on the horizon

In the category of restaurants rumored and real, I have two entries but not a lot of detail.

First, the rumored. I’ve been hearing that Casa Del Rey in some form might make a comeback. Some of the people involved in the old Casa have reportedly been shopping for sites and making other arrangements.

I’m sure it would be a success. Few restaurants, if any, could match Casa Del Rey’s track record. For 32 years, the restaurant at Mount Rushmore Road and St. Pat was packing people in who loved the Casa’s not-so-hot Mexican menu.

An unfortunate turn of events — bad publicity over a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak traced to the decorative fountain in the lobby and a too-tempting land-purchase offer from Walgreens — closed the Casa last year.

But I still hear people speak longingly of the good old days of the Reyitos and other Casa specialties.

Now for the real: Out of the corner of my eye the other day I saw a sign on East North Street that said, “Coming soon. Adventures in Barbecue.” The sign was the building at 208 E. North St., most recently home to CJ’s Indian Tacos.

I hope to have more on that later.

Law firm moves downtown

The Rapid City law firm of Thomas, Nooney, Braun, Solay and Bernard is moving into its new downtown offices this weekend. By Monday morning, the firm will be at 632 Main St.

Last year, the firm’s partners were looking at constructing a new building in the Village at Founder’s Park, the new office campus on the site of the former Federal Beef packing plant.

But instead, they decided to buy existing office space, partner Kurt Solay said. They will occupy the second floor of the former American State Bank building; Realtor Pat Hall and his Premier Properties are on the first floor.

For the past five years, the firm has been on the second floor of The Plaza center on West Omaha Street. The firm now has nine lawyers, Solay said, and space was getting tight. “We’re just flat out of room here,” he said.

The new location has a lot of room and lots of parking, especially for downtown Rapid City.

The firm’s mailing address and telephone number will not change. For more information, call 348-7516.

Java’s Brewin’ has new owner

Deb Maxwell has lived in Piedmont for 25 years. Being in the coffee business has always been a dream of hers.

Now that dream has come true. She recently bought Java’s Brewin’, the espresso shop at Exit 48 in the Piedmont Valley. It’s right across from First Western Bank.

She has a full espresso bar as well as a light breakfast and lunch menu, gift baskets and gift certificates. She recently introduced Blue Bunny ice cream. The shop also has a drive-up window.

Java’s Brewin’ has been in business at that location for six years.

Hours are Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. That’s a lot of hours, but she has help from her daughters, age 17 and 15.

New errand service opens

Sara Wallenkamp of Black Hawk likes to tackle a variety of tasks, errands and chores. She has named her new errand service Task Tackler.

She wants to run errands for individuals and businesses throughout the Black Hills area. She’ll do housekeeping, pick up dry cleaning, wash clothes, whatever people need.

For more information, call 391-3560 or 787-4883.

Talking Business appears Thursdays in the Journal. Contact Dan Daly by telephone (394-8421), by fax (394-8463) or by e-mail (dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com).