Surprising Stuff

The Geneva Shore Report just finished its fifth year.
This issue is the first of the sixth year. The paper started as a single two-sided page. It was published in an attempt to save the Geneva Java Coffee Shop, at the time located in the unlikely location of a church basement. That effort failed, but somehow the paper, through making the attempt, ended up having a life of its own. From a circulation of one hundred photocopied sheets a week, the GSR has grown to five hundred hard copies weekly, and an online presence approaching eighty thousand visits a month to its websites. While the paper has changed and grown, so has the community and its concerns.

Back in September of 2011 a big issue was the fact that there were not enough change machines to allow visitors and residents to feed the parking meters. And that first issue of the paper also reported the fact that the water at the end of the Riviera Pier was thirty-eight inches deep. The paper hasn’t checked to see how deep the lake is these days; the X-Files reporters have been too busy tracking breaking stories.

 

Aldi’s and The Noodle Company get ready to open.
Not just yet, though. Noodles will be opening in just a few weeks, but Aldi’s still has quite a lengthy build-in to complete. Installing the coolers, freezers and all the other equipment necessary for fresh produce, meat and all the other grocery items Aldi’s is known for, is going to take some time. Aldi’s will not speculate, but the GSR staff does that all the time. Look for Aldi’s to open its doors to the public early in the spring.

Update on Noodles and Company

Plum Crazy gets ready to close.
Jody Myrold, the owner of Plum Crazy, is moving on. The store, according to the sign posted on the front window of the store, indicates that the popular retail outlet will be gone by January. Mid-winter is the time when most shops that have decided to leave, up and make their move. One might think that leases would determine when a shop will close, but the reality is that businesses that aren’t making a profit almost always close in winter. Hopefully, Lake Geneva will not lose too many this year. Last year seven downtown stores closed up. Some big spaces like the bagel place, and the old Caribou/Peet’s are still empty even a year later.

The “Downtowner” comes to Lake Geneva 640 West Main Street.
A really neat and good looking white building, right next to the White River before it goes under the bridge.  This building is being converted to an eight bedroom whatever.  The ‘whatever’ comes from the new ordinance that allows for unlimited use of interior space by certain developers as long as they hold to certain rules.

There are no rules.  No Rules

The developers promise that this will not be a boarding house.  The eight bedrooms will all be rented as one to visitors attending weddings, funerals or getting tattooed at the new tattoo parlors nearby. The developer’s promise.  Crossed fingers behind their backs.  Since the new rules don’t require that on site parking places be available, eight parking places have been assigned in Pell Lake.  Or somewhere like that.  Lake Geneva has opened Pandora’s box with this new ordinance, and it is going to be shocked, we say shocked, when Pandora emerges, smiling her wicked smile.

“The Downtowner”

640 Main Street Lake Geneva

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