Rain or Shine Treasures opens retail location on East Main Street in Waukon


Rain or Shine Treasures receives First Dollar visit ... Rain or Shine Treasures, newly opened at 5 East Main Street in Waukon, received a First Dollar Visit from the Waukon Chamber of Commerce recently. Pictured above at that First Dollar presentation are, left to right, business owners Daneela McKee and Brady Sorum. Photo by Waukon Chamber of Commerce.

A storefront with a mixture of antiques and new gifts has been opened at 5 East Main Street in Waukon since October of this past year. Rain or Shine Treasures was established at that location by Daneela McKee and Brady Sorum of Waukon in an effort to expand from an already established online sales arrangement (www.rainorshinetreasures.com) to a retail storefront location welcoming in-person customers. “We love working with people and meeting new people,” McKee and Sorum said.

McKee first moved to the Waukon area in 2003. She remained here after her husband passed away in 2012, and their now 12-year-old son is a seventh grader at Waukon Middle School. She and Waukon area native Brady Sorum began dating three years ago, and the two felt that starting their retail business in Waukon was a good fit.

As a licensed real estate agent with experience and training in sales, McKee also works with KellerWilliams Legacy Group in Waukon and she has worked at Kious Kountry Auto Collision Center, Wilken Auto Salvage and R.W. Pladsen, Inc. Sorum also currently works at Reiser Implement in Waukon.

The greatest challenge faced by the couple in starting the new retail business was all the details involved in the initial start-up. Those challenges have paled in comparison to what they describe as the most rewarding aspect of running their own business, and that would be meeting people from both in and out of town when they stop to shop.

In addition to their own mixture of antiques and new products available at their East Main Street location, they also offer consignment on antiques others may want to put up for sale in their store. They have future plans to expand their retail location to the downstairs lower level of the overall building block where they are located, allowing them to offer a storefront location along both the north (East Main) and west (Spring Avenue) sides of the building and to also expand the product lines they have available.

Rain or Shine Treasures is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, being closed Sunday. Additional information can be found on their business website, www.rainorshinetreasures.com, or by calling 563-568-7248.