Couple opens Wyoming café with a purpose

The Stray serves up food, music and a sense of camaraderie.
Couple opens Wyoming café with a purpose
Chip and Karen Van Klompenberg say they hope their venture becomes a focal point in the community. <strong>Photo by Paul R. Kopenkoskey</strong>

The Stray is a music and arts café located in Wyoming where weathered retail stores and a handful of shuttered storefronts dot the retail corridor. For owners Chip and Karen Van Klompenberg, this is exactly where they want to foster a sense of community and creative inspiration for patrons.

“We are all becoming isolated as a society and not just because of COVID but I think that’s certainly part of it,” said Karen Van Klompenberg. “You wave to your neighbors but don’t necessarily go and talk. We thought, ‘What would it be like if we used hospitality where people felt comfortable hanging out and having relationships?’”

The Stray opened in September 2021 at 4253 S. Division Ave. in a renovated building that once housed a mechanic’s shop when the first phase of the structure was constructed in the 1930s.

The building is a far cry from the cinder block utilitarian facade it once sported, which has housed at least 10 businesses since the building was constructed.

The Stray’s exterior and interior have a modern, inviting appeal that encourages patrons to stay awhile. A selection of coffees, teas, hot chocolate, sandwiches, flat breads, caprese and vineyard goat salads — as well as a rotating list of draft and canned beers and wines — are for sale, as are pastries and snacks.

The Stray’s walls display art that’s for sale created by local artists and the venue hosts concerts on the café’s small stage on Friday and Saturdays, giving local bands of assorted music genres opportunities to perform before a live audience.

“I think creative people gather their inspiration in different places,” said Chip Van Klompenberg. “If we could have a place that would inspire people to use their gifts and then inspire other people, that would be awesome. There wasn’t a lot of places where a band could play in the area and so we said wouldn’t it be great if we had a place where younger talent could be on stage — maybe on stage for the first time — or where more experienced talent could come?”

After combing other potential locations, the Van Klompenbergs concluded this is where they wanted to base their café.

“When you drive down South Division you see the shuttered storefronts that are on the downswing or upswing from a business standpoint, but the more time we spent in this area, the less concern there was for that,” he said. “There’s a friendliness of the neighborhood.

“One of the things we wrote early on in what we wanted to achieve in the business was the last place we wanted to be in was a strip mall,” said Chip Van Klompenberg, who is a mechanical engineer by trade and a partner with Zeeland-based manufacturing technology company Extol.

“We found some buildings in other areas on the north side of Grand Rapids and more of the hotter spots of Grand Rapids, but in order to get a place and do what we wanted to do from a space standpoint, in the type of community we wanted to be in, and in the financial range of what we wanted to invest in it, this place kind of rose to the surface.”

It’s an entrepreneurial renaissance Tommy Brann hopes will spur like-minded change for South Division.

“I’ve seen other areas make big comebacks,” said Brann, whose Brann’s Steak House & Grille has been in business for 50 years on South Division and is a few blocks south of The Stray. He also is president of the Division Avenue Business Association. “Twenty years ago, those areas were hurting and now they’re hip areas to go to. I think people at The Stray can help Division Avenue go farther.”

This is the couple’s first foray into owning a café, something they’ve had in mind for 10 years. They purchased the 9,500-square-foot building for $400,000 and spent another $500,000 refurbishing it, which included replacing the steel roof. Currently, 3,500 square feet are in use as a café and kitchen, but plans are in the works to open an artists’ studio in the middle portion of the building.

“We were strategic where we spent money,” said Karen Van Klompenberg. “We wanted it (the interior) to have a story feeling by leaving some of the things open and visible and capitalizing on certain features.”

Then, with a smile, she added: “I did more things than Chip was planning on.”

Their respective skillsets complement what they want The Stray to accomplish.

“I have traditionally had the artistic skillsets and Chip had more of the mechanical, strategic business skills, but we always thought it would be great to utilize both skillsets and complement each other,” said Karen Van Klompenberg, whose background is in interior design. “There’s music and art and the good coffee and some food to give people something substantial to eat. There’s something about that all together that’s more inspirational than any of those parts by themselves.”

The Van Klompenbergs dubbed their café The Stray because they’re dog lovers. Their logo is patterned after Toby, the yellow lab mix they rescued that has since died. They now have Beau, a Catahoula Leopard mix. An outdoor patio that will be open in the warmer months will allow patrons to take their dogs with them.

“People have been very expressive in sharing their appreciation for having something like this in their community,” said Karen Van Klompenberg. “We try to do things with lighting and décor to make you feel a little something. When I get in those types of places, I get more creative. That can be from the music or design, or the way people interact here.”

“We want a place where community is built and make sure community is enhanced because we are here,” he said.