The Falling Rock Café and Bookstore at 104 Munising Ave is a cozy refuge against a bitter winter wind. After more than 20 years of featuring local artists and authors, the new owners, Justin and Eizabeth White, are reaching out to the community, setting a family-friendly location. They rearranged some of their stock to make room for a play area including a slide. Children’s books stand side by side with classics and newly released novels. Games sit on a table ready to be plucked up and played while the snow falls. The only thing missing is perhaps a large fireplace and stockings hung with care. If Norman Rockwell had a bookstore and café, it would look something like this.
The bookstore and art gallery are the most visible part of the café, but the carefully chosen menu is skillfully made and gorgeously presented. The coffee and hot chocolate are always hot and welcoming. The coffee comes from Great Lakes Coffee Company and is roasted special for the café.
Everybody’s favorite food? Year round it’s the Avocado and hummus toast, but the regulars know that come spring, there’s smoked whitefish on a bagel to give their tastebuds a treat.
But it’s not just the food that makes The Falling Rock special. It’s the people. Specifically, the people who come through the door and linger over books and hold on to hot beverages trying to urge circulation back into their fingers.
“I love people,”Denise Niven, manager, says with a smile. “New people that I’ve never met. People I know. Regular customers and people I haven’t seen for a long time who come back.”
Indeed, it’s the friendly flow of people who stay and chat which make Falling Rock feel like home. Those who sit silently and read on Sunday afternoons, and those who pop in for a hot drink to go. “It’s the customers,” Ms. Niven says with a smile as welcoming as warm bread. “We just wanted to be there for the community.”
Vistors will quickly find themselves addressed by name the as they come through the door, and occasionally find unique events greeting them.
The first Saturday of the month, Madison makes her appearance. Madison is a therapy dog who loves being read to by the children who earn a bit of ice cream for the price of sharing a story.
On Wednesdays throughout the colder months, there is Celtic music brightly played between 2:00 and 4:00 with any musician welcome, and On Sundays, a more sedate gathering of folks sit and read quietly with the Silent Book Club also between 2:00 and 4:00 pm.
But that’s not all. Some of the activities planned for the future are trivia nights midweek and games every Saturday. A poetry slam is also in the works.
“Like any business, customers are our livelihood, [but] we just want to engage the community,” Ms. Niven adds. “I just like engaging with people.”
