The Grain House Opens with a Ribbon Cutting
Sanborn newest coffee house, eatery and taproom is now open The Grain House opened it’s doors on Thursday, October 10 with a Grand Opening Open House. The Sanborn Chamber of Commence held a Ribbon cutting during the open house. The public was able to check out the newly renovated building. Guest enjoyed a cozy atmosphere and some free goodies as well as grab a quick bite to eat and a cup of coffee or tea. The Grain House serves 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. The hours as of right now are Monday closed; Tuesday – Friday 8-5 pm. and Saturday 8-2 pm. Eventually they would like to open at 7 am. or 7:30 am. They are adjusting their hours for a little while. They are still needing to hire a few high school or college aged kids who can work before school. The Grain House offers a drive thru in the back of the building and added parking in the back. Online ordering for the Sanborn location is now available.
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 is a small boutique providing an array of home decor products and offer booths for local vendors to showcase their goods, kids’ clothing and furniture. Home on Main has set up shop inside The Grain House in Sanborn as well. A smaller version of the shop in Hull but a perfect addition for people to stop in grab a drink and check out what Home on Main has to offer.
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 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.
Mandy and Faye closed with “We are so excited to be in Sanborn and we can’t wait see everyone! There are so many people to thank, it’s hard to know where to begin. God has blessed us and introduced us to some amazing people!”
Chamber President Laura Lux had this to say “The Grain House is a great addition to Sanborn we are all very excited to welcome them to Sanborn.”