The Grain House coming to Sanborn
Coming soon to Sanborn is a new coffee shop called “The Grain House.” It is set to open in the old Oldsmobile automotive dealership building located at 204 Highway 18. The Grain House will serve specialty coffees, teas, energy drinks, baked goods, croissant sandwiches and flatbread pizzas. The owners are Mandy Hoekstra and Faye De Kam. They chose the location because they loved the building and it was located along Highway 18. The building fits perfectly with the design of their main building which is located in Hull.
Faye and Mandy had this to say about choosing Sanborn for their location “We chose Sanborn for a few reasons. Mandy, one of the owners, grew up in Sanborn so there are many connections and ties to people in the community. Both Mandy and Faye have a love for small communities, and Sanborn has many great businesses and people that make the town very special. We (Mandy and Faye) are just happy to provide a small amenity for the people of Sanborn and surrounding communities to enjoy and come together. Sanborn is about 30 minutes away from our original location in downtown Hull which is a perfect distance to attract new customers and different customers as well. It is close enough though, to allow us to maintain our consistency and quality as best we can.”
They added “Another big pull for us to come to Sanborn was the vision of John Vander Haag and his drive to improve the City of Sanborn. The City of Sanborn and O’Brien County Economic Development were also wonderful to work with in making this possible. We felt very comfortable and encouraged by all of this, and we are very thankful and excited for the opportunity to grow.”
The Grain House name originated from the very first possible building location, which was situated in front of grain bins on Main Street in Hull. Due to circumstances out of the owners control that location did not come into fruition, but The Grain House name was established.
The current Grain House is located at 1134 Main Street, Hull, IA. It is a co-owned building with Home on Main, owned by Amy Emerick, which sells specialty home decor items, kids’ clothing and furniture.
The building the Grain House is going into was built in the late 1940’s, ‘46 or ‘47. According to the abstract, around 1950 John and Velma Jehue purchased the building and it housed the Oldsmobile automotive dealership until 1973. In 1983 the building was purchased by Harry’s Motor. John M. Vander Haag purchased the property in 2021 with the intentions of repairing the roof and windows while he figured out what could be done with the building.
John said that the Grain House owners, Mandy and Faye, approached him over the summer about developing a portion of the building for their business.
The exact opening date for The Grain House is fluid. There is a lot of work that needs to happen inside the building before it opens. The parking space and drive thru are being drawn up and designed by John. The hopes are to open possibly late spring/early summer of 2024. The hours of operation are yet to be determined. Keep reading the Sanborn Pioneer for updates.