The Rustic Interiors home decor store has moved into its new location at 652 Main St. with a new partner — Cattle Dog Cafe, which closed its Main Street location in September.
Cattle Dog Cafe celebrated its grand re-opening on Oct. 28, just a month after its lease ended. Chelsea Schoeni, co-owner of Cattle Dog Cafe with her husband Steve, said the event featured coffee, seasonal drinks, baked goods and brunch items served by the food truck Cowbell Kitchen.
Rustic Interiors will be holding a Christmas grand re-opening on Nov. 15 at 5 p.m., according to co-owners Carrie Bryant and Andrea Delgado. It will be a private event, but anyone can attend as long as they RSVP, Delgado said.
Space and location were the biggest factors in the move, Bryant said. Rustic Interiors upgraded from 480 square feet to 3,000, and will now be able to focus on larger pieces and more products.
“It was a good start, now we’re just ready to elevate,” she said.
While Rustic Interiors has outgrown their former space, Bryant said it was important to start small to make sure the community demand would allow for a future expansion.
She said it was a surprise that they were able to make the move this quickly. Rustic Interiors is just coming up on its one-year anniversary on Oct. 14.
“It’s a big leap,” she said. “We have a lot of plans; not sure how much will come to fruition.”
Bryant said the ability to bring in more product lines will help fulfill the vision she has for the store.
The layout of the former location with its limited space includes elements for kitchen and living rooms. But the new, larger space allowed Rustic Interiors to offer more products for the entire home.
“A beautiful home starts here, meaning the entire home, a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom,” Bryant said.
In the back of the store is the bedroom area with a queen-size bed set, bedding, towels along with a nursery area. There’s also a fall and Christmas area with decor for the kitchen and dining area.
The bedroom area featured in Rustic Interiors’ new location.
(Noah Harrel)
“We are the most obsessed Christmas people,” Delgado said. “The day that we’re passing out (Halloween) candy I’m in there putting up my 14-foot Christmas tree.”
Artificial Christmas trees are available for sale, Delgado said, with each one decorated in different themes.
The walls of the store are filled with artworks like cattle horns and cowboy boots with succulents growing out of them created by Ramona resident and artist Barbara Folts, Bryant said.
Delgado said she’s excited for the partnership Rustic Interiors is taking on with Stonewall Kitchen to feature some of their items, including jams, breakfast and desert items and cooking sauces.
The store is still in the early stages of stocking, Delgado said.
“We’re testing the waters, same with bedding, seeing what people are gravitating toward and going from there and building it,” she said.
Visitors will be able to walk around the new shop and see everything on display for sale, Delgado said. At the same time, they can grab a cup of coffee or tea from Cattle Dog Cafe. Inside seating is available along with the outside patio behind the store, Delgado said.
“I think together we have all brought something to Ramona that we definitely needed,” Delgado said.
The location and space were part of what drew Schoeni to partner with Byrant and Delgado to reopen Cattle Dog Cafe inside the store. All three of the business owners saw the opportunity for potential with their collaboration, she said.
The front of the store is the home of Cattle Dog Cafe, which is now mobile, Schoeni said. Since Rustic Interiors isn’t a restaurant space, Schoeni had to get creative and build mobile parts that all fit together and create the coffee shop area.
Cattle Dog Cafe’s new home inside Rustic Interiors.
(Noah Harrel)
Schoeni said she’s excited to be able to have brunch food available Friday through Sunday, thanks to the food truck Cowbell Kitchen that will be stationed in the space between Rustic Interiors and neighbor Uptown Boutique.
She said she had been planning how to incorporate the food truck, which she owns with a few partners, with Cattle Dog Cafe before she received the notice to vacate her former space.
“By losing the kitchen in the old space, it’s limited me to what I can serve,” she said.
“We just had to adapt to that and figured that when we were going to go into this space was when it made the most sense to bring the truck along with us,” Schoeni said. “It actually ended up working out really well because now we have a destination for brunch.”
Schoeni is hoping to keep Cattle Dog Cafe in its new location as long as she can.
“As long as it can be there I will be there,” she said. “However it’s on wheels now so if something were to catastrophically happen I have the ability to roll it out and go somewhere else.”
To learn more and RSVP for Rustic Interiors’ grand opening, visit their Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/ShopRusticInteriors/