Sep 6, 2007

A Kinder Touch is three shops in oneBy Claire HawsDesMoinesRegister.com

Where people once sat to have their teeth filled and pulled, they now can have their hair cut and colored. A Beaverdale resident has transformed a former dentist’s office into the boutique, salon and spa called A Kinder Touch.

Becky Cracraft opened the shop at 2614 Beaver Ave. in April 2006. The space had been occupied by a dentist’s office since 1956, and several of Cracraft’s hair clients used to visit the same space for their dental appointments.

“I’ll take them back to cut their hair and they’ll say, ‘I had a not-too-good experience in here once,’ ” said Cracraft, who moved to Des Moines from Missouri in 2004 to be closer to her children and grandchildren. “And I tell them, ‘Well, I hope you don’t have that again.’ “

A Kinder Touch is three distinct shops in one. The front of the 2,200-square-foot store is a boutique, selling Amish furniture, quilts, baskets, candles, jewelry and pottery. Cracraft also will put together custom gift baskets for customers.

“It’s worked very nice for us,” said Cracraft, who ran a hair salon in Missouri for 31 years. “I wanted to have items in a variety of price ranges so that no matter who comes in, they can have a good shopping experience.”

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