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Mandy Hunter becomes new owner of Adela’s
FAIRFIELD — Mandy Hunter is the new owner of Adela’s in Fairfield, and she is continuing to build upon the charm she inherits from the business’s prior owners.
Dorian Atwood founded Adela’s, and named the business after her mother. She passed the torch to Kara Waugh, who owned it for almost five years until Waugh sold it to Hunter in February. Hunter said that, just like Waugh before her, she wants to keep the name of the business the same, to show customers a continuity in the high quality of merchandise they’ve always associated with Adela’s.
Running a retail outlet is no small task, and Hunter is doing that in addition to her full-time job as a nurse practitioner at Jefferson County Health Center. Hunter said she’s able to pull that off thanks to her wonderful staff.
“And a lot of late nights,” she added. “I spend a lot of midnights here.”
Hunter works at the walk-in clinic at JCHC, and her shifts are 12 hours long. She said that gives her more freedom to do something on the side, like run her own business.
“You’re either used to it or you’re not,” she said. “I’ve never worked an 8-5 job. I’ve always worked 12-hour shifts, because I’ve always been a nurse.”
Hunter spent part of her youth in Lockridge, and moved to Burlington, where she graduated from high school in 1998. At age 17, she started taking nursing courses through Southeast Community College, and transferred to Iowa Wesleyan University to get her bachelor’s in nursing.
Until this year, Hunter had only ever worked in medicine, but she was getting hungry for a new challenge.
“There’s always a time in somebody life where they ask, ‘If this all that I’m going to do, or am I going to do something new?’” she pondered. “And this is my something new.”
Hunter’s fiancé Shawn McCarty saw that Kara Waugh was selling Adela’s, and he suggested to Hunter that she might want to look into it. Hunter said she and McCarty started by talking to the business’s original owner, Dorian Atwood, to get advice. After talking it over with Kara, too, they decided it was worth a shot.
“Adela’s is about a legacy, the legacy Dorian started because of her mom,” Hunter said. “Kara continued that legacy, and it was a legacy that was in danger. The store was going to close, and I’m very sentimental about things like that. It felt like it was something that needed to be done. This is a 17-year-old small business, and Adela’s has amazing and loyal customers who are like family. For it to close, that would have been a tragedy.”
Before closing the sale on Feb. 8, Waugh and Hunter spent several days together to ensure a smooth transition. Hunter said she has maintained Waugh’s staff and hired new staff. Grace Bogaards has been with the business since the very beginning. Vicki Eastbrook, Jenny Roberts and Hunter’s mother Saundra Ensminger are the other employees.
Hunter spends as much time at Adela’s as she can, and even puts in time after her 12-hour shift at JCHC. She said putting together or tearing down displays is her idea of relaxing.
“It’s my release,” she said. “It’s my down time, and it doesn’t feel like work.”
Hunter said she’s sought to continue the popular product lines that Atwood started like Pandora and Mariana Jewelry.
“We’ve added things, too, based on what our customers have requested, like the RFID wallets,” Hunter said. “If you don’t bring in new things then it would get stale. You have to keep finding the new thing, the next exciting product.”
Waugh had a line of baby clothes, and Hunter has built on that, expanding the range of baby clothes available.
“We also added religious gifts for things like baptisms and confirmations, and some bereavement items,” she said.
Hunter said her biggest surprise from buying the business was learning just how appreciative Adela’s customers were that the store was staying open.
“I was impressed at how many customers were thankful that we took over, and that it has maintained its uniqueness,” Hunter said.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
