Rise Above It Bakery & Café co-owner shares memories about the business amid incoming closure - WSIL TV

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CARTERVILLE (WSIL) -- A popular Carterville business is getting ready to close its doors for the final time Sunday.

"You know the one thing about this space is, yeah it was a cute bakery...beyond that, it was a community gathering space. It was an area where people could gather and that's really probably was my key thing," said co-owner and Landlord, Jennifer Spence.

Since June of 2018, Rise Above It Bakery & Cafe has served the Carterville community with baked goods and some history filled with furniture and photos from the city, dating to the 1900s.

"I renovated the museum next door and I thought this would be a nice complimentary space to that, a bakery and I thought our downtown needed a bakery," she said.

Spence says she was amazed with the different customers that stopped by.

"There would be classmates when they would visit from home they would always meet here. Sunday School classes. I could go on and on or just seeing business meetings. I knew there was economic development discussions happening because we provided them a good meeting space," she said.

Carterville Mayor Brad Robinson says the cafe was a game changer.

"With some of the developments we had on the north side of the downtown and when those businesses didn't pan out, and the buildings became vacant, Rise About It continued to breathe life in the downtown. People continue to feel like the downtown was moving in the right direction," he said.

Not too long before the region went into Phase 4, the store announced it would close for good.

Spence hopes her store will continue push other business owners to reaching their goals.

"I wanted to inspire, entrepreneurs. I feel like people walked in here and said this looks like a place I could see in Nashville or Chicago," she said.

Spence says there will be a new owner and a bakery business is hoping to open in April.

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Rise Above It Bakery & Café co-owner shares memories about the business amid incoming closure - WSIL TV
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