Ames British Foods Brings a Touch of Britain to Downtown Shopping District

Light streams in through the large north-facing windows in  spacious new location across from the .

It illuminates displays of new and used teapots, Cadbury chocolates and a variety of other British goods. Holiday merchandise recently appeared, as well: tables of Christmas sweets, chocolate Advent calendars and stacks of shiny, foil-wrapped crackers, which are filled with jokes, hats and other surprises.

The business has grown quickly in the last three years, but it started as a fluke.

"Three years ago did I see myself standing here?" asked Marcus Johnson, the store's owner. "No."

Johnson, 42, is originally from Sussex, England. He has a Ph.D in physics and previously worked at Ames Laboratory and the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation in Ames, then at a technology company in the Twin Cities. In 2008, Johnson's family moved back to Ames, where he formed a company that offered services in nondestructive evaluation and industrial sensing. He opened a retail location for his company on Lincoln Way next to Decker's BP.

"It was a hole in the wall, very small, rundown, but a good place to start," said Johnson.

He decided to carry just a few shelves of British goods as a sideline, but they were so popular that his "sideline" business soon took over the whole store. Within six months Johnson realized that he couldn't expand any further, so he started looking for a bigger space.

He wouldn't find the right one until two and a half years later, when the decided to move its gallery shop into the space that had previously housed . The gallery's former storefront at the corner of Fifth Street and Douglas Avenue seemed like the ideal location for Ames British Foods.

The store has been in its new location for about three months. It doesn't just sell food; customers can also find teapots, three-dimensional puzzles of British landmarks, signs, games, fleece blankets, and, according to Johnson, the best selection of hard cider in the state. Johnson co-owns the store with his wife, LeAnne Rohrberg-Johnson, who is also a teacher with the Ankeny school district. Ann-Marie Widdowson, the store's manager, has worked for Johnson since the store opened.

Johnson said that business has been good since the store moved. On a recent Saturday they sold nine teapots. In their previous location, Johnson said, they sold about one teapot per week. He attributed the uptick in sales both to their new location and to the approach of the Christmas season.

"Christmas is huge for us," said Johnson, who estimates that Ames has about 300-400 British residents. "Brits, at Christmas, miss the traditional things." Johnson said that crackers in particular are a big seller for Ames British Foods during the Christmas season.

Jean Meek, who was born in London, agrees. She came to the U.S. as an exchange student and has been here for 33 years. Meek appreciates the holiday items that Johnson's store carries: crackers, of course; as well Christmas puddings and cakes and other hard-to-find traditional British Christmas things.

She and her husband, David Meek, have been regular customers at Ames British Foods since it opened. David also has plenty of favorites at the store, including pickled onions and HP Sauce, which is a popular steak sauce in Britain.

Most of Ames British Foods' products come from a few major importers of British goods, said Johnson. But although some products will always be imported out of necessity, Johnson's goal is to obtain as many products locally as possible.

"Our sausages, or 'bangers', are made by Mike's Meats in Carroll. He's working on a back bacon product, as well," said Johnson. The tea cosies for sale in the shop are handknitted in Ames and the shop's pasties, a pastry shell stuffed with meat and vegetables, are made in Wisconsin.

Johnson's future plans include opening an Alice in Wonderland-themed British tea room in the front of the store, but that probably won't happen for quite awhile, he said. For now, he's enjoying taking advantage of his bright, spacious new store to serve an expanding range of British goods to central Iowans.

"Marcus has the best British food around, and you can't do better than to come here to find tea," said Jean Meek, who encourages Ames residents to visit the store and try something new. "As he increases the stock we find more things we want to have."