Brewed Awakenings, the First Avenue coffee shop that serves as a second home to many Coe College students, says it could be forced to close unless business improves.

Owner Heather Younker acknowledged Friday that the business is in a fight for survival. She said its painful to admit, but she’d rather customers knew upfront that the business needs their support than to have them long-faced if the business closes unexpectedly.

“It’s hard to admit that Brewed is going through a hard time,” she wrote in a e-mail. “But in the wake of the downtown restaurant blend closing, we didn’t want Brewed to be another casualty.”

Younker blamed the business’ problems on the continued reduction in downtown traffic caused by the June 2008 flood, and by the recession. Brewed Awakenings, 1271 First Ave. SE, was not directly affected by the flood, so Younker said she can understand how much worse business conditions must be for businesses affected directly.

Younker set up a Facebook page, “Save Uptown College District & Downtown Businesses,” to share the message of struggling businesses.

One other way people can help, Younker said, is to join the 3/50 Project. The nationwide project aims to help independent local businesses. It encourages people to pick three small local businesses each month and spend $50 total.”

Information on the project is available at www.the350project.net

Here’s the e-mail Heather started circulating early Friday:

Dear Friends of Brewed Awakenings Coffeehouse:

I write this on behalf of many small, locally owned family businesses like Brewed Awakenings who are in the midst of a deep struggle for survival. We have been serving our wonderful customers for over 6 years now but we don’t know how much longer we will still be able to do so. The affects of the flood to downtown traffic and the recession have finally caught up to us.

It’s hard to admit that Brewed is going through a hard time. But in the wake of the downtown restaurant blend closing, we didn’t want Brewed to be another casualty. We were not a flooded business but we are feeling the affects of the flood. If we are having this struggle, I can’t even imagine how much harder it is for others downtown.

We heard many people comment that if blend had just appealed to the people of Cedar Rapids, maybe they could have stayed open. Thus, we don’t want to wonder what might have been for us, so we humbly appeal to the amazing people of Cedar Rapids. If we just had 30 more customers daily, we could begin to recover from the events that have slowly been eating away at our bottom line. Please consider adding a stop at Brewed (and other small businesses in the Uptown College District & Downtown) to your weekly routine.

How else can you help? Join in a movement to help save our local small businesses. Learn more about The 3/50 Project (www.the350project.net) which encourages people to pick 3 local small businesses each month and spend $50 total. What local businesses would you miss if they were no longer there? Make it a goal to spend money there this month.

Also, I have started a Facebook page called “Save Uptown College District & Downtown Businesses.” Become a Fan & share what local businesses you’ve been to recently. Let’s talk up our amazing local businesses & get them more foot traffic. It’s really up to us to save our local businesses. They cannot survive without our support

And, will you take time to forward this email to anyone you know? I would love your help in getting the word out.

Thanks for your care and support for small business.

Tara Cronbaugh, 35 Iowa City, President, founder and owner @ The Java House

“I was 21 and I wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Tara Cronbaugh doesn’t brew coffee at home.

Not kidding. The founder and owner of the first and most sucessful independently owned coffee shop in Iowa City didn’t even think to have coffee on hand when she hosted a bridal shower for an employee.

“I still laugh about that,” says Tara. “I never have coffee at my house. Even at the holidays, I never provide coffee.”

But really. Would you bother brewing your own coffee if you owned three coffee shops, plus four more outlets in a book store and hospital? Doubtful.

More likely you’d do what Tara does, grab a freshly brewed cup on your way to the office every day.

St. Louis Blue is her favorite. Not the hockey team, the coffee bean.

Usually she calls ahead so it’s waiting for her to sneak in, snatch it and get out before she gets stuck in a conversation or starts nit-picking the cafe.

“It makes me crazy to sit in a store. I want to get up and fix,” she says, pointing to a light bulb that needs changing and a spot on the wall that needs retouching.

When this meeting is over, Tara says, she’ll be talking to the manager about the stray squares of tape littering the front window.

“It’s all about first impressions,” she says. “It’s probably bad to look at it this way, but I see 5,000 customers as the chance to make 5,000 mistakes.”

Not that she hasn’t made a few. But that’s what happens when you open a business at 21 years old.

“Being young, I had to learn by mistake,” she says.

But there were upsides too.

“I didn’t have kids. I had lots of energy. I didn’t have much to lose. Being young was the best time to do it,” Tara says.

Perhaps ironically, a coffee shop that has helped educate a community about coffee wasn’t born out of a passion for the brew.

“I didn’t even drink coffee,” she says. “I wasn’t necessarily passionate about coffee but the ambience, the experience.”

She may drink coffee now, but the experience still drives her daily decisions. Whether it’s adding foam art as a finishing touch or offering free wifi, papers and magazines to customers, it’s all about “what do we do to add value to the experience.”

And 15 years later, even though she’s filling out time sheets instead of filling up coffee cups, ” I still love what I do.”

Did you know: The original The Java House inside Prairie Lights Bookstore started as a business case Tara wrote for an entrepreneurial course during her senior year at the University of Iowa.

 – Carly