Downtown wasn’t big enough to hold Heather Vaught’s love for her hometown. Almost a decade after opening River City Coffee & Goods at 223 Main St., and three years after sister store Memo five doors down, Vaught’s small business enterprise has expanded to Eastland Mall.
River City Goods (just goods, no coffee) carries a variety of apparel, decor, kitchen items, and other fun things at various price points. The shop has the Evansville-branded merchandise River City is known for, but Vaught, well aware of Eastland Mall’s regional reach, knew she needed more. “We brought in a couple new brands and some more Indiana-, Kentucky-, and Illinois-themed goods for some of our neighbors who come to visit our mall,” Vaught says.
Data show that Eastland Mall remains a highly visited Evansville destination, and Vaught decided it was the best place for her to grow River City. “I’ve heard sometimes people say, ‘Oh you have that coffee shop with the trinkets,” when really we have always been a gift shop first – with everything from locally made soaps to really nice $500 handmade leather bags. I’m just trying to emphasize the quality and specialness of the goods that we carry, and that they are made by real people who either have connections to our city or have a small business in the U.S.”
River City’s lease at the mall runs through March. “Our plan is to be there through then, and hopefully it works out so that we can stay longer,” Vaught says.
