Want to surf the Internet, grab a bite to eat or relax with some reading materials while someone else does your time-consuming errands? It may seem too good to be true, but Rachel Redding thinks otherwise.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 22 marked the opening of Redding’s “‘Can Do’ Errands Internet Cafe!.”
The Trenton resident said the business will offer errand services to the general public and small businesses in downtown Trenton, and the cafe will function as a small Staples-type store.
Laptop and desktop computers, paper and office supplies, reading materials and even a chalkboard line the walls of the single-room facility. Snacks on display behind the glass counter can be purchased to eat while lounging on comfortable chairs. But these amenities are simply additions to the errand service that Redding will focus on.
“It’s pretty much anything you can think of that’s legal,” Redding said. “People can come here, drop off their errand lists and jump on the Internet.”
Picking up groceries, providing transportation to appointments and waiting for the cable technician are just a few of the services that Redding and her two-person staff will offer. Customers will also find typical office supply store services such as printing, copying, faxing, binding and lamination.
The cafe is open later than most businesses in the area — it doesn’t close until 7 p.m. on weekdays.
“Just the café setting itself is somewhat like a social hub, and that’s what I’m trying to make it,” Redding said. “I want it to be networking. People can come here and post things, exchange information, hang out, get on the Internet. It’s all social networking. And if this is the business one-stop shop, maybe some people will come and have meetings here.”
Redding seems to have squeezed in even the smallest bit of any aspect a customer might expect from a local cafe and office supply store, and even some things they wouldn’t. She even plans to hold basic computer literacy classes and computer repair services.
Trenton Downtown Association Executive Director Taneshia Nash Laird was thrilled about the opening of a business in the downtown location that assists other small businesses and local residents.
“We’re on the other side of downtown, and we have some business owners who actually come to our office and ask if they can photocopy, or if they can print stuff out,” Laird said about the TDA. “So now there will be a business on this side of town where they can actually do that conveniently.”
The “‘Can Do’ Errands Internet Cafe!” began as a simple home-based errand service provided by Redding alone.
“I was just running personal errands for friends and family, like buying groceries,” Redding said. “But I was also noticing that I needed to leave work a lot to do my own errands. And that’s how it got started — just for the need of busy people.”
After spending eight years in Delaware, where she first began her errand service, the Trenton native moved back to where she grew up — and where she knew she would find busy people.
The “‘Can Do’ Errands Internet Cafe!” is located at 6 S. Stockton St. in downtown Trenton, and will be open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.
