Longtime Czech Village businesses closing up shop

One of the oldest businesses in Czech Village plans to close its doors, taking with it one of the city's few authentic Czech restaurants.

Owner George Joens said Joens Bros. Interiors, 59 16th Ave. SW, which opened in Czech Village in 1959, will close sometime next year when the city's commercial flood buyout process is completed for the building.

Known for its pork and dumplings and other Czech food, Maria's Tea Room, housed in the same building - called Kuncl Mall - will close after lunch on Dec. 3.

Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio, the third business in Kuncl Mall, is moving down the block to a new site.

The cosmetic shop will reopen at 81 16th Ave. SW on Dec. 1, said owner Nancy Schmuecker, who also manages the tea room and has been an interior designer and bookkeeper for Joens Bros.

Floodwaters inundated Kuncl Mall through its 8-foot-high ceilings in June 2008, but all three businesses reopened less than a year later and the building remains structurally sound.

“There comes a time in everyone's life when you have to make a decision,” said Joens, 74, who has witnessed two Czech Village streetscape transformations, among other changes. “There were some weighty things making that decision for me.”

Joens lost more than $100,000 in inventory in the flood and spent at least $100,000 rebuilding. He received $25,000 through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A recent knee operation has slowed down Joens a bit, but he is undergoing physical therapy, with plans to fully recover.

His business has had more difficulty recovering, he said, citing the flood losses and counting 36 other carpet stores in the phone book.

The flooring company will continue offering its full service until the city tells him he needs to move out, Joens said, a process that could take months.

Like others in the buyout, Joens will receive the pre-flood assessed value for the building, plus 7 percent.

Sandi Fowler, assistant to the City Manager, said the building won't necessarily be demolished, but could be offered for redevelopment, similar to what the city did with the Ellis A&W in northwest Cedar Rapids.

“It seems like a really nice building,” said Helen Hunter of Cedar Rapids, one of five “Women of the Word” book club members dining at Maria's Tea Room this week.

Her friend, Rachel Aalbers of rural Mount Vernon, pronounced the tea room's cabbage rolls “very filling,” and all the members said they would gladly return if the restaurant remained open.

Another business, however, plans to buy the kitchen equipment, so that option isn't likely, Joens said.

Joens Bros. was started by his brother, Frank Joens, in another building in Czech Village.

The current building, constructed around 1935, originally housed the first Me Too grocery store and was partitioned into Kuncl Mall in 1995.

Randy Novak, president of Novak's Heating and Air Conditioning, 56 16th Ave. SW, said his business also has been in Czech Village since the 1950s. He, too, could be going through the same buyout process as Joens, but will likely move to Hiawatha next summer.

Joens and his wife, Kay, have six children and 14 grandchildren, so Joens said he would likely “pop up” elsewhere when he retires.

“Life moves on,” he said. “You've got to move with it.”

Joens pointed to the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, which will reopen next summer, and the need for more tourist-friendly shops in Czech Village.

“It's time to put this building in the hands of someone who will do that,” he said.