116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
North Liberty family brings new creative outlet to Eastern Iowa with Slime Kitchen
New novelty trend shows potential for growth across the state
Mar. 6, 2025 5:00 am, Updated: Mar. 6, 2025 7:23 am
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
CORALVILLE — A new kind of fun is oozing into Iowa.
Or sticking, or stretching, or keeping its shape — depending on which base you choose.
At the Slime Kitchen in Coral Ridge Mall, your interpretation of the recipe is what keeps things interesting.
As a relatively new concept, the company’s first location in the Midwest and one of the first of its kind to appear in Iowa is helping to mold an online trend in real life.
Since opening its first location three years ago, the company-owned and franchised chain is now up to nine locations across several states including California, Nevada and Oregon.
Here’s why the viral trend is spreading to Iowa — and how you can get in on the fun.
If you go:
Where: Coral Ridge Mall, 1451 Coral Ridge Ave., Coralville
Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Phone: (319) 540-4243
Website: theslimekitchen.com
Details: A 10-step experience for all ages offers the opportunity to make one-of-a-kind creations for $25. Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are recommended for busy weekends or holidays.
How it started
Opened mid-February, the Coralville location is piloting the trend in Eastern Iowa at the helm of franchise owners Shelbie and Maurice Williams.
The couple, whose children fell in love with a similar concept in Chicago while on vacation, came home to find there were virtually no options to feed a growing slime addiction.
After making it at home constantly, it wasn’t just the children who loved the slime.
Shelbie owns and runs an insurance company; Maurice brings 20 years of experience in manufacturing across several industries, including stints at Whirlpool, International Paper and General Mills.
“I went from making candy to making slime,” Maurice said.
After confining the kids’ mess to one corner of their home, they had a new idea: taking it outside the house to a space where everyone can experience the ingredients, quality and creativity activated without electronics.
“If we feel this way, we know other people feel this way. Kids are obsessed with slime,” Shelbie said.
How it works
Before children even walk in, the sign out front activates their sense of wonder.
“They light up before they even walk in the door. They’re running parents over to the Slime Kitchen,” Maurice said. “Some of the parents … they’re more interested than the kids sometimes, they’re learning too.”
It starts with good hand hygiene. Slime can last quite a while if it’s kept clean and debris-free, but it can also grow mold if it’s not made with clean and sanitized hands.
The slimeologists introduce new recruits to the six different bases of slime: clear, cloud, classic, thick and glossy, butter and Icee. Each has its own advantages to suit your needs.
The classic is good for popping bubbles, with a thick texture that’s not sticky. The thick and glossy, made with Elmer’s Glue, is better for bigger bubbles and feels like a melted marshmallow.
Cloud slime is popular for adults who still love to play. It gets fluffy like cotton candy, without a sticky texture. It’s also good for sensory stimulation, but doesn’t allow for a lot of mix-ins due to how much it inflates.
If you want to mold ideas that you can hang onto, you’ll want the butter base. Mixed with clay, its texture is similar to peanut butter and holds its shape the longest.
The Icee — a clear base mixed with instant snow — is exactly what it sounds like. With a frosty look and texture, it looks a bit like a melted snow cone or the popular frozen beverages that come in blue raspberry and cherry flavors at concession stands.
After selecting your base, you can pick from a rotating selection of over 42 scents to add. All made from essential oils, they range from fruity to calming to seasonal. Popular ones include green apple, cotton candy, gummy bears and toasted marshmallow.
“No slime is ever going to be the same or feel the same,” Maurice said.
Add color to your creation from powder for a subtle, shimmery look or with gel for bold and vibrant hues.
Then, the real fun starts. Patrons move to the Kitchen Aid mixers at the counter to start mixing. Then, they knead it with their hands to really make the color pop.
The texture wall gives slime a new dimension with over 18 options like slimy, creamy, fluffy or snowy.
After that, bring your creative side to life with an assortment of mix-ins like slices, beads and shapes. Before you leave, your container will be finished with three charm toppings and some “fairy dust” glitter to decorate it a bit like an ice cream sundae.
The all-inclusive experience, popular among children and adults alike, runs $25.
Why it’s growing
In today’s age, the parents of two younger children, ages 10 and 7, said there aren’t a lot of things that can pry their kids away from electronics for long.
“My idea was to get the children off their electronics and get them to do things hands-on,” Maurice said. “If you can actually do it, it will get them to play for a while. Creativity is key.”
But with captivating sensory qualities that capitalize on a popular online trend, slime manages to activate creative thinking in unique ways.
“Making and playing with slime is such a visual experience, and in this day and age, where short-form video is the primary form of content people are consuming, it’s the perfect recipe for viral content,” said Slime Kitchen founder Kathy Ando.
Last year, slime videos across all ages accounted for 360 million views. Ando says college-age viewership reinforces one key to the business’ reach: “slime is for everyone.”
Unlike other competitors who focus on making slime from scratch, Slime Kitchen’s model focuses on the last 20 percent of the process — adding scents, colors, textures, mix-ins and toppers. Those parts, she contends, are the most rewarding part of the process.
“It’s not about the slime itself, but the therapeutic experience that comes from activating the senses, from feeling different textures to seeing the array of colors and smelling the variety of scents,” Ando said. “This is why I intentionally called it a kitchen, because the kitchen is where you gather and create fun recipes with friends and family.”
The Williamses, who run the store with one of their adult children, have already gotten calls from other customers in non-adjacent states willing to travel for the unique experience.
Slime Kitchen, which has grown to nine locations since it first opened, is planning new locations as fast as others are opening. Less than a month after opening, the Williamses are planning a location in the Des Moines metro.
Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.
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