Biz Buzz shares business tidbits from across the tri-state area. This edition highlights developments in Dubuque and Bellevue, Iowa.

A consignment store featuring the work of more than 50 artists and crafters has taken over a big space in Dubuque’s mall.

Maker’s Market opened in the Kennedy Mall on Sept. 1. The 6,000-sqaure-foot store is in the former location of the clothing store Deb, across from Books-A-Million.

“The foot traffic has been wonderful,” said owner Mercedes Pfab. “I like to say it’s an all-year-round art show. It’s cool that everything is locally made. There’s something cool for everyone.”

Pfab said she has 56 different vendors currently on consignment at Maker’s Market. She said she plans to focus on vendors from the Midwest, and a good portion of current vendors are from Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.

The store offers a little bit of everything for customers, including artwork, jewelry, apparel and home décor.

Pfab is also the owner of art studio Captured on Canvas, which is also located in Kennedy Mall.

“At Captured on Canvas, we outgrew the space,” she said. “And people were always asking if we did consignment. That’s where the idea came from.”

Pfab’s own work is on display and for sale at Maker’s Market, with her “Tour Dubuque” collection taking up a wall. She said she takes photos of recognizable Dubuque areas and paints from the photo. Prints of the paintings are for sale at Maker’s Market, as well as mugs and throw pillows with the painting printed on them.

She said stock at the store will rotate with the seasons and be dependent on what vendors create.

“I have a lot of people that said they would come back for the holidays,” she said. “It’s all very unique, nothing like what you find at a big box store.”

Maker’s Market is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The store can be found online at makersmarketdbq.com and facebook.com/makersmarketdbq.

New chiropractic office comes to Dubuque

A new chiropractic office has opened in Asbury Plaza.

Upper Cervical Health Centers opened in August at 2565 Northwest Arterial, next to VIP Nails in the former GNC space. The only doctor in the office is Tyler Speed, who worked in an Upper Cervical Health Centers office in Cedar Falls, Iowa, for two years previously.

“My wife is from Dubuque, and that brought me back here,” he said. “I just absolutely love the town and love being here. It’s been the game plan for quite some time.”

At the office, Speed said he does not charge patients to sit down and talk during an initial appointment but instead determines if a patient’s problem could benefit from chiropractic services and if a problem requires the patient to be readjusted.

“The goal is to not have them be adjusted,” he said. “If we know the brain and body are communicating in the way they need to be, we stay out of the body’s way and let it do that.”

Speed also conducts spinal exams and performs X-rays to find the root of a patient’s issue. He said there has been success helping patients with migraines and other headaches, vertigo, back pain, knee pain, neurological conditions and concussions.

“We have a whole bunch of good success stories,” he said.

Upper Cervical Health Centers is open from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. The office can be reached at 563-582-5372 and found online at ucdubuque.com.

Family opens Bellevue store

A family recently opened a new shop in Bellevue selling clothing, candy and ice cream.

The Putman family — Craig, Tessa and their daughter, Kylee — opened Sweet Boutique at 101 S. Second St. during Labor Day weekend. Tessa said the store’s space had been vacant for years, though it used to house a flower shop.

“My daughter does screen-printing (for clothing) on the side,” Tessa said. “She always wanted to do a boutique on the side. A friend of mine had given me the idea for the candy, and I had the idea for the soft serve ice cream. No one in town does soft serve ice cream and bulk candy like we do.”

Tessa said the Putmans were able to put the store together in just two and a half weeks prior to opening, but they plan to add more inventory in the coming weeks.

For clothing, she said, the current inventory is geared toward women, but items for children, teens and possibly men will be added in the future.

The Putmans also are working to add more options to their bulk candy selection.

“We’re trying to get older, retro candy from when I was younger and stuff that you wouldn’t see in a gas station,” Tessa said.

The soft serve ice cream is from Flavor Burst, and Tessa said Sweet Boutique will have eight flavors at a time. The family plans to rotate flavors out every so often, and they hope to have options such as pumpkin ice cream in the fall and peppermint around Christmas.

“It’s been great just with the amount of support and how busy we’ve been,” she said. “They used to have Flavor Burst years ago in the gas station, so people are just excited that it’s back in town.”

Sweet Boutique is open from noon to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and the store opens at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday with a yet-unset closing time. More information on the store can be found on Facebook.