Page 18
Features
March 14, 2002
Acorn Inn offers guests Southern hospitality
Photo courtsey of Steve Earley
Acorn Inn is a home away from home, located on 301 W.
Haggard Ave.
Steve Earley
Reporter
Whether you are a guest or just
stopping by for an open house,
Acorn Inn owher and operator Mike
Brown will offer you a cup of cof
fee as if you were a guest in his own
home.
This is because the inn is sort of
his home. Brown runs the inn, lo
cated two blocks from Elon’s cam
pus at 301 W. Haggard Ave., along
with his wife, Melissa, and his par
ents, Jimmy and Becky. The fam
ily has living quarters above the
inn’s porch.
Melissa says it was a goal to give
the inn a homey feel. “When people
think of the South, and of Elon, they
think of hospitality,” she said. “I
want that to carry over to the inn.”
The 10,000 square foot facility
opened Nov. 9 and features 12
double occupancy suites. All rooms
are non-smoking and have a fire
place and sitting room with a fold-
out love seat, whirlpool tub, micro
wave, refrigerator and king-size
bed.
Both Mike and Melissa attended
Elon, so they know the area. “We
recognized there was a need for
overnight stays closer to the univer
sity,” Mike said. “[If you] want a
little more peace and quiet than I-
40, and don’t want to fight
Williamson Avenue at 5:00 p.m....
then this is the place.”
Starting up a new business has
kept the family busy, according to
Melissa.“It’s like another baby for
us,” she said. The Browns have a
2-year-old daughter named
Mikayla.
“We wanted to do the owner/op
erator thing,” Mike said. “It’s good
for the business to get it jump
started yourself, let people meet
you.”
Running a business has made for
some long days. Melissa, who
handles a lot of the publicity for the
inn, also works full time at South
ern Alamance High School. She
gets Mikayla off to school in the
morning, helps with breakfast, an
swers phones and does anything
else she can.
Mike generally starts each day
at 5:15 a.m., gets in a swim or a run
and is at the bakery to pick up
breakfast by 6:30 a.m. Once break
fast is cleaned up, and the rooms
are changed over, Mike takes res
ervations and bookkeeping items
during the day. He said he usually
finishes up around 10 p.m.
Planning for the inn began in
November 2000. Building required
a special-use permit, which meant
the idea had to be approved by a
planning board, just as if it were
rezoned. “People’s perception of
something on paper versus what the
end result is going to be is often
times different. So, it makes it dif
ficult,” he said.
Once it was approved, the inn
took about four months to com
plete. The building is Mike’s design
and a refinement of the Affordable
Suites extended stay units he owns
in Graham.
“This building [Acorn], we’re
already looking at it for our fourth
project,” he said. “What would we
change? And what can we do to
make it better? It’s an ongoing pro
cess.”
So far, business has been fair,
according to Mike. “It’s always
more of a reality check when you’re
living out what was on paper,” he
said. “It’s pretty close to one track,
honestly, but, it feels a lot longer
now that you’re really living it out.”
March looks good for business. “It’s
starting to shape up nicely,” he said.
Mike says parents of students
and others visiting the university
have made up a good part of busi
ness. He says they also get a lot of
people on business visiting either
Lab Corp or Carolina Biological
Supply Co.
Mike says once the inn has been
introduced to the university, this is
a market he wants to pursue more.
“We’re going to go more directly
after outside businesses,” he said.
“We want to expand out into the
community.”
In addition to Mike, Melissa and
his parents, the inn has a part-time
staff of five. Mike says there will
always be one full-time person,
onsite all the time. Currently, that
happens to be him. “I’m on the
verge of probably hiring a book
keeper/office manager-type person,
just to aide in the day to day tedium,
so that I can get out and sell the
rooms,” he said.
Two Elon students, juniors Ryan
Buckley and Marcie Foley, work at
the inn. Both started before the inn
opened to the public, and they say
they have enjoyed the experience.
“It’s great. Mike is probably one of
the best bosses I’ve ever had,”
Foley said. “He’s very understand
ing and works with your schedule.”
Buckley, who helped with some
of the construction, said, “I enjoy
being able to help them out. It’s not
like a chore.”
Both Foley and Buckley are
communications majors, but they
say their experience at the inn will
still come in handy down the road.
Buckley, a broadcast corporate
communications major, says he has
learned a lot of good marketing
strategies from the inn. Foley said,
“I’ve learned a lot about how to deal
with people and keep people happy.
That’s important in any job you do.”
The importance of the customer
is something Mike can attest to. He
ran the Bike Shop of Burlington for
six years before selling it in 2000.
He says no matter what business
you are in, “It all comes back to
serving the customer, he said.”
“Even when you sell a product, you
sell yourself. People will buy that
product because you endorse it.”
He says this is also the most re
warding part of the job. “It’s just
those Uttle things when you connect
and you know the customer sees
value in what you have provided
them,” he said. “That is the most
rewarding.”
Rates for the inn are $79 per night
for two people Sunday through
Thursday, and $99 per night Friday
and Saturday. The inn’s phone num
ber is (336)446-0400.
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