Feb. 23 is the final day of operations for 1st and 3rd Boutique and Wine Bar in Petersburg, but the business will soon reopen with a new name and different focus.
“We’ll be closing on the building the following week,” said Kelsey Harms, who is purchasing the property at 105 S. Seventh St. from Liz Carter and Maggie Adkins. The two sisters opened their business in 2021 – naming it after their birth order – and were recognized in the “best new bar” category in Illinois Times’ Best of Springfield later that year.
Harms, a native of Athens, said she moved to Petersburg to work at Broadgauge and was managing The Talisman until its closure at the beginning of the year. She then decided to launch her own venture with similar offerings.
“This is my first go at running a business myself; I’ve managed many other places,” Harms said. “We are planning just a little bit of a renovation. The boutique part will be gone, and that space will be turned into a coffee bar and café.”
Harms said Café Amulet, as the business will now be known, will be open from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Saturday and offer coffee and pastries with breakfast options such as quiche and breakfast burritos.
She plans to keep the wine bar, which will be open from 4-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday evenings, and the upstairs space will still be available to rent for private events.
“I’d like to continue to have live music, although it might take me a little time to get it all set up,” Harms said. “People have been asking me what my projected opening date is, and the truth is, I don’t know. I think May would be a fair estimate, but I’m not sure yet how long the renovations will take or whether it will be possible to have the wine bar open while the other work is being done.”
