Cathy Strukely and Tricia McGann are turning the former Fifth Street Flower Shop location into a Christian bookstore, with the goal of spreading kindness and providing financial support to other community organizations.
The friends, who met in a church community group, are opening Kindness + Co. at 739 S. Fifth St.
“One of the things we really want to do when we open the space is just spread kindness — because there isn’t enough kindness in this world,” Strukely said.
To help accomplish this goal, Strukely and McGann plan to donate the proceeds from the Kindness + Co. bookstore, after expenses, to a different local nonprofit each month. They currently are accepting nominations of local nonprofits to be “mission partners” and be the recipients of this support.
Nominations for mission partners can be submitted via the Kindness + Co. Facebook page. Kindness + Co.’s board will review the nominations and select an organization each month to support, McGann said.
“These will be organizations that are already doing good in central Illinois,” she said. “Rather than reinventing the wheel and starting another organization, we want to start this store to support our mission partners.”
In addition to the financial support from the store’s proceeds, Kindness + Co. (the Co., by the way, stands for compassion, Strukely and McGann point out) also plans to provide volunteer support to its monthly mission partners. Strukely and McGann hope to have ongoing hands-on service projects available at the store — whether it’s stuffing envelopes or creating blessing bags or whatever else may be needed — to benefit the partner organizations. Visitors can stop in to donate whatever time they have available to the project.
The bookstore will feature Christian books along with other items such as apparel, housewares and jewelry. In addition to the store, the Kindness + Co. location will include gathering spaces where Bible studies and other community events will be hosted. In fact, Strukely and McGann are launching their first event series, a weekly Bible-reading community, on Oct. 1 — even before Kindness + Co. officially opens.
Strukely said they expect the bookstore to open sometime this fall. “We are working fast and furious on the renovations,” she said.
Fifth Street Flower Shop closed in 2024 after decades in business. Strukely and McGann said they were glad to find a downtown location like the Fifth Street space for their new endeavor.
“We love downtown,” Strukely said. “The city of Springfield is large, and we wanted to be in a place that was easily accessible no matter where you live in this community.”