By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
NEOSHO, Mo. — It was a Friday night, and Brandon and Maegan Kirschner were looking to go out, but it was almost 9 p.m.
The couple couldn’t find anyplace that really suited them, partly because of limited options, recalled Maegan Kirschner.
“So we went to Wal-Mart,” she said. “How fun is that?”
The Kirschners ended up creating another entertainment option for themselves and others. Last week, they launched Stargazers, a business that is part restaurant, part tea room, part gift shop — and all atmosphere.
“We want it to be more of an experience than just a restaurant,” said Maegan Kirschner, who is the co-owner with her husband.
Stargazers is a no-alcohol, no-smoking establishment that occupies the former home of the Grotto restaurant and Elephant Trunk. It will stay open until 9 p.m. six days a week.
The upper floor houses a resale and gift shop that deals in items such as hand-made purses and hand-poured, scented candles. Also on the top floor is the tea room, which offers tea, coffee, pies, cookies, muffins, soups and more.
The restaurant’s menu will include steaks, sandwiches and several lines of hot dogs that are named after the Kirschners’ children.
But the crucial element to Stargazers is ambience, Maegan Kirschner said. The couple have done little remodeling to the actual structure, but the plan is to vest it with atmosphere by its variety of businesses; wall decorations that will include historical black-and-white photographs of Neosho; twinkling lights; and a buildingwide sound system that will always be playing jazzy music in the background.
“We want it to have personality,” she said.
Brandon Kirschner said Stargazers’ 1,300-square-foot outdoor patio with a small stage is a particularly striking feature. The couple plan to have two- or three-piece jazz bands playing music on weekends, he said.
The Kirschners are latest in a line of believers who have been launching businesses in downtown Neosho, which is participating in a makeover that is being helped via the state’s Downtown Revitalization and Economic Assistance for Missouri, or DREAM, program.
Just a stone’s throw from Stargazers, for example, a new Granny Shaffer’s Restaurant has opened. Rehabilitation projects under way at 106 Washington St. and at 124 S. Wood St. are valued at a combined $3.16 million.
“We think it is a unique space,” Maegan Kirschner said of the downtown area. “It just has the personality we were looking for.”
When they first encountered the building, the couple were not even thinking about using it for a restaurant and tea room, said Brandon Kirschner.
He had visited the vacant building in search of a home for his wife’s hand-poured candle business, called Sweet Sensations Candle Co. Until then, Maegan Kirschner had been running the business from home.
But when he started to look around the building, he grasped its potential.
“I just fell in love with the place,” he said.
By the numbers
Each of the two floors containing Stargazers has a total of about 1,700 square feet.
