At the edge of Hillsdale County’s city limits, Sarah Maier’s backyard is a luscious, green lawn divided into sections for her farm animals and flower garden, faintly smelling of the manure nourishing her plants. Her garden is filled with many different species of flowers. Needing money to purchase a car, Maier was 14 years old...
“Want to talk about marijuana?” Michigan Sen. Mike Shirkey, the Republican incumbent, asks the ten or so Hillsdale County constituents gathered near him for an open Q&A session at Jilly Beans coffee shop on Monday. Nodding, they do. Polls suggest the legalization ballot initiative might not pass, though it’s close, Shirkey says, knocking on the...
Jilly Beans Coffee House announced earlier this month that its owner, Mary Ellen Sattler, will open a new coffee shop location in Jonesville this May. While many details are yet to be revealed, Sattler said she is looking forward to extending her coffee shop to Jonesville, just about one year after she took ownership of...
If the four biggest coffee shops in Hillsdale — Checker Records, Jilly Beans, Biggby’s, and Rough Draft, — have anything to say, the increasing variety of coffee shop experiences in town have had no negative influence on business, but rather have increased activity in downtown. Checker Records is known for not only its...
On senior Susena Finnegan’s last day working at Jilly Beans café before traveling to Kansas for the summer, a regular customer came through the door. Often, she came with gifts. Once, it was a doll, another time, an espresso glass. “She brought me a watermelon,” Finegan said with a chuckle. “She said, ‘I knew you...