“From a small acorn bursting with promise to a mighty oak tree, which is Oak Leaf Cafe today, building this business with my sister Sandy has been one of the great joys of my life!” Leeanne Greyvenstein
During 2024, after five years of utilizing the space on the property for Oak Leaf Cafe alone, we realized our potential for growth. It was only during winter that we made use of the entire inside space. During the warmer months, our customers chose to sit outdoors, in the garden, fountain courtyard or verandas, hence all that space was grossly under-utilized.
We started thinking about how we could add value to Oak Leaf Café and how we could add revenue streams to our business model. The answer was simple: create small bespoke retail outlets on the property to compliment Oak Leaf Café and to add value to the community.
Sandy and I put our heads together and we identified a few individuals that we hoped would be interested in participating in our development plan. We thought about our customer base and decided that hair, beauty and a small plant nursery would be a perfect fit! We reached out to Monica for a hair studio, Annedine for a beauty salon and Dallas for a plant nursey and they all said yes!
With our tenants onboard, we proceeded with making them a home on our property. We renovated the under-utilized space to create little shops. We also participated in a brand discovery exercise with Lisa and her team from Live Creative and in November 2024, Acorn Square was born, along with three new start-ups: – Monica’s Hair Studio, Dallas’s Green Thumb Garden Shoppe and Annedine opened a second branch of Hello Gorgeous Beauty Salon.
Now in its second year, we couldn’t be prouder of our wonderful tenants! They have each made a success of their businesses and have added enormous value to Oak Leaf Café and to our community. During 2025, we invited Gretchen Wheeler of Sky Farm to exhibit her beautiful paintings at Acorn Square and in May 2026, Lynn Joubert opened Urbanflock handmade – selling exquisite hand-knitted and crocheted garments, bags and blankets using the finest materials like pure wool & mohair, along with a variety of haberdashery items.
Our vision has truly been fulfilled! We look forward to many more successful years of collaboration and growth at Acorn Square.
