A group of arts and entertainment enthusiasts and friends have a vision for a new downtown Champaign business.

Part cafe, part theater, Cafe Extraordinaire will be an entertainment venue where magicians, improv groups, comedians and more will perform while patrons sip macchiatos and teas.

Husband and wife Jason and Lisa Cerezo (who have backgrounds in performing arts, sales and teaching) and Jace Hoppes, a magician and mentalist, are also seeking a novel way to launch their business idea.

They want to partially fund it through crowd-funding. They're asking people to invest, say $25 to $25,000, in their business through a website.

"We wanted a place to play," co-founder Jason Cerezo said.

"Where the stage is always open," Lisa Cerezo added.

In some cafes, performance space is an afterthought. And for performers like magicians, bars are not the best places because they can be loud, making it difficult to interact with the audience, Hoppes said.

Although they envision hosting late-night crowds, they also want to have family-friendly comedy shows and other events such as recitals.

"We're trying to make this as theatrical as possible. Entertaining is an integral part of our business plan," Lisa Cerezo said.

They've been looking at places in downtown Champaign, but have not signed a lease for space yet.

The theme for the business is steampunk magic cafe; steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction, Hoppes said. Think movies like "The Prestige" or "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

"That's the direction we want to go," Jason Cerezo said.

The cafe would sell sweets and appetizers and a variety of coffees and teas. They'd like to hold coffee and tea tastings, Lisa Cerezo said. And it would be a place where people could play board games and other games.

"We want to try to always have something going on," Lisa Cerezo said.

They're hoping to raise $100,000 through the site. More information about their plan is available on their website.

More consignment shops

A string of consignment shops has opened or plan to open in East Central Illinois.

– Simply Irresistable Home Consignment, 108 E. Livingston St., Monticello, opened in July in the former Sunnycrest Video store space in the VFW building.

"We specialize in gently used furniture and home decor," said Cindy Baker, who owns the store with her mother, Karen Baker, and her sister, Gina Shreve. The partners, all from Monticello, have worked in retail in the past, and Karen Baker has always been interested in antiques and wanted to open a store, Cindy Baker said.

The store sells a variety of collectibles, sofas, bed frames, dining sets, dressers and more, she said.

"We're always accepting consignors. As long as it's gently used and has no rips or tears," she said.

The shop is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and can be reached at 817-0555.

– Ella's consignment shop will open Sept. 7 near downtown Urbana.

The store is in the former Troy's Uniforms building, 408 N. Race St., and will feature women's and junior's clothing as well as lightly used furniture and home decor.

Owner Karen Reitsma has worked in retail part time for about a decade while working full time in accounting. She said she wanted to open a consignment store on the east side of Champaign-Urbana.

The store will be open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

She is still looking for consignors and gently used clothing and furniture, but not antiques.

– Perry Chaney last week opened an eBay consignment store in the former video store space at 206 N. Market St., Paxton.

For several years he has been selling a variety of items, from cars to excess inventory from hospitals on eBay on a part-time basis. He also does a lot of business with baseball cards.

Chaney recently moved back to the area from Tennessee and decided to open the store, called Cards R Fun in Paxton. It's open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. The store can be reached at 379-8230 or http://www.cardsrfun.com.

Are you opening a new business or changing an existing one? Christine des Garennes can be reached by phone at 351-5388 or 800-252-3346; by e-mail at cgarenne@news-gazette.com; or by regular mail at The News-Gazette, c/o It's Your Business column, P.O. Box 677, Champaign, IL 61824-0677.