RETRACTED: Losing everything won’t stop this couple from opening a café in Shelley
Based on previously unknown information, Community Pioneer has retracted this article and no longer stands by the information therein.
Click here to read the explanation for the retraction.
SHELLEY — After losing everything to COVID-19 restrictions, these former Oregonian entrepreneurs are giving Shelley a café.
Anita and Roger Collier lost their early education businesses in Oregon due to government COVID-19 restrictions and found themselves wanting to find a new place to live and raise their youngest son. Their search led them to Shelley in October. Thinking they had lived enough of their entrepreneurial lifestyle, they decided to settle down and live a quieter life in their new hometown. Then they realized that Shelley didn’t have its own café.
“We’re just entrepreneurs by blood,” Anita said.
So the couple started asking around the Shelley Facebook page if people would be interested in having a place where they could get together for coffee, lattes, or other drinks and a bite to eat. Anita said the response was overwhelmingly supportive of the idea. So she decided to realize her dream of opening a café.
A’nita Gifts & Café, is opening in late March on the corner of West Pine St. and State St.
“Why? Because cafés are fun,” Anita said. “It brings people together. It brings community together. It brings a whole bunch of people — just different walks of life that maybe would never come together otherwise. And it kind of provides a really safe, fun, cozy environment to be able to work or study or meet a friend that you haven’t seen for a while.”
Anita has a lot of ideas she would like to try once her café has had some time be get established. However, she plans on having simpler food and drinks when they first open.
“We’re going to do a lot of more grab-and-go style. So breakfast sandwiches, bagels, burritos, fruit and yogurt granola parfaits, sandwiches like BLTs. Quick kind of healthy options that you can take and eat here or you can have it wrapped up and easily eat while your driving or maybe going back to your desk or something,” Anita told Community Pioneer.
As for drinks, they plan on serving coffee, espresso, different teas, chias, hot coco, fruit juices and smoothies. They will not serve soda.
“We’re not going to have dinner. We’re going to be a café,” Anita said.
She said their hours will be 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
She said she wants everyone to feel welcome and comfortable at her café, including children.
“I was an early childhood educator for 20 years and owned schools. So, for me, it’s very important that kids feel welcome too. That the parents aren’t coming in feeling like their children need to be quiet or keep their hands in their pockets,” Anita said.
The café’s layout will include bars along two walls where people will be able to sit and plug in their electronic devices. There will be couches and rugs in the back where patrons can sit and relax. Free wifi also. During warmer months she plans on having tables with umbrellas outside on the sidewalk.
“There’s not a lot of room so it gets crafty with, putting shelving up and what we’re bringing in and what we have available,” Anita explained.
Along with selling food and drinks, Anita plans to sell other items from around the community and father out.
“I want to make sure that that I have the opportunity to bring in things maybe that we don’t have the opportunity to get elsewhere. We have friends in Hawaii that make their own honey. So talking to them and getting the honey over here that we get from Maui, and sharing that with the community” she said.
Anita and her husband Roger are no strangers to opening their own businesses. They spent most of their lives in Oregon and both have backgrounds in early childhood education. They supported their family by starting various education businesses in Oregon. Then COVID hit.
“We lost everything in COVID,” Anita said. “Through no fault of our own and due to government and everything going on, we couldn’t open. We couldn’t reopen. Then we didn’t get funding, we didn’t get help. We just lost, like thousands of other business owners out there that lost everything.”
Not only did they lose their livelihood to COVID restrictions, they lost property in the forrest fires the plagued the west coast last summer.
“Things were just getting crazy,” she said.
Despite all of this, Anita and Roger saw their new situation as an opportunity.
“We literally just kind of went well, this is a really good opportunity now for us to just kind of do the RV thing. Which is something we always wanted to do.” Anita said. “We just downsized and we got in a 29 foot RV and we just started to travel and started to talk to our friends and see why people enjoy living in the areas they do, then checking it out for ourselves.”
Their travels eventually brought them to Shelley and now that they are here, they plan to stay.
“We decided that high desert Idaho from high desert Oregon was a good fit. We like the high desert,” Anita said.
Now that they are here, they want to be active supporters of the community and bring people to Shelley.
“It’s so nice to be able to have the opportunity to bring people here intentionally and bring an influx of traffic to our business and the community,” Anita said.
But Anita isn’t the only one who is working towards opening their dream business in Shelley. Roger, who has a background in education, is also an engineer, and his favorite tool for teaching and learning engineering is Lego.
Just two doors down from A’nita Gifts & Café, Roger is working on opening Blocks & Bots, a Lego shop for all ages to buy and learn all about Lego.
“I love Lego, and who doesn’t love Lego,” Roger said. “I had a business in Oregon called Little Engineers which was really just all classes and camps and workshops.”
For his shop in Shelley, part of it will be focused around retail. He plans on selling, buying, trading and consigning new and used Lego.
“There’s no stores around here doing it in the local area,” Roger said.
But retail is only a small part of his plan for his business.
“My personal focus is going to be on teaching STEM education. I want to have different engineering classes on the weekends. I’m going to do classes during the day, during the week for homeschool kids because they are always left out,” Roger explained.
Roger plans on opening his shop after Anita opens her café. For the time being, he is focused on helping Anita. He will release more details about his shop in the near future.
Follow A’nita Gifts & Café and Blocks & Bots on Facebook to stay up-to-date with everything Anita and Roger are doing.
Hi no ?♀️ Good luck with your new endeavors!!
Their daycare business in Oregon ended long before COVID when they were smoking marijuana with children present, not paying their employees, and ripping off parents all around town. April, Anita, Augustine, whatever she goes by, still the same con artist.
There is a group of individuals in Oregon City that find it entertaining to slander and harass my daughter. Remember good people of Shelley, you are getting one side of the story. Easy for bullies to hide behind their computer and say mean and hurtful things. This is a nightmare for my daughter.
I am emailing you today as a concerned bystander in the wake of destruction April Sliker has left over the past 10 years or more. Anita, as she calls herself, is really April Sliker, and she has a history of opening businesses, getting investors to give them her money, and then leaving. She has done this multiple times. Please google April Sliker and Oregon City and Little Bear Play Care before going any further with these people.They are scam artists disguised as “the poor people who lost everything.” They did not lose everything due to Covid, they owed investors money and weren’t paying them, so they left town leaving parents standing at closed doors holding their children. Then their daycare companies were shut down. Our own mother was just sued because she was a cosigner on a lease to where APRIL was renting. They have stolen camp trailers, boats, guns, and slandered all who oppose them. They have also falsely accused a man of being inappropriate with their son because the nudist community they were freeloading in wanted them out because of their poor behaviors within the community. She ruined this mans life and then they left anyways. I will tell you now if you ho into business with them, it will be your downfall. Please please please do you research on her!!!! There are a lot of people looking for her that they have wronged so they can take her to court for what they owe. I will say again, RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH!!!
This lady is a straight up crook and the person behind this article would be wise to pull it down before their name is dragged through the mud as well. My family has been through hell and highwater with this crazy S.O.B. do your research.
These people definitely did not lose everything due to Covid. They lost it by not paying their people, lying about their locations and the being forced to shut down. This lady does by many different names, but has a history of using whoever she can and then leaving in the wake with someone else holding the bag for her actions. She’s cost a lot of people a lot of money, time, and resources. I would urge anyone looking to invest in their business endeavors to do research first. Double check the dates of when their businesses shut down and why. Don’t just take mine or anyone else’s word for it.
I would advise the author of this article to more research on April Sliker. Thats “Anita’s” actual name. She isn’t legally married. Do a “been verified” on April Coleen Sliker out of Oregon city Oregon. And you will most certainly find all you need to know about how much of a crook and a liar she really is.
https://daycareandmarijuana.com/
I am a recent victim of April “anita” slicker/striker and Roger Collier, July 2020. I have filed police reports in S. Oregon where they are wanted for the theft of fire arms (a felony) and 10k in stolen goods. Im happy to share my full story with anyone who is interested.
All my attempts for justice through our legal system unfortunately have come up short.. unless these two commit a murder, the police won’t put energy into the case. So I doubt I’ll ever receive justice there.. but seeing this feed today is my justice!
And I’ve learned my lesson.. cons can be blonds with blue eyes, or college educated folk with a professional appearance. Thats how they get us to let them walk in to our lives. And these two are smart to boot. They rock ur world and flee.. drop off grid for months and show up in a new small town to start it up all over again. I didnt even realize I was conned till they were far from me and in a diff jurisdiction..
I wish I was warned by the community like I see here.. do your research Shelly Idaho.. you’ve been warned.
These two belong in prison, kept away from society. Every word out of their mouths are lies..some to protect themselves, some to defend against past allegations and other lies to “set up” their next victim. Ie like the lies they’ve told Shelly, Idaho.. “their business was shut down bc of covid” April says on record!! . That is a flat lie. She was run out of town by parents
who made allegations of child abuse and child endangerment. BRAVO- PARENTS WHO TOOK ACTION! And one can see how this lie benefits them.. everyone wants to help a family brought down by covid.. They are already playing the victim.. a victim of covid.. Shelly Idaho- do not fall for it!
Also note they are smart and not above strong arming victims into remaining silent. They attempted to shut me down by ruining my professional reputation, Roger released an article into the social network of my industry filled with lies.. it had no impact as his voice, spoken or penned is ignored and known to have no merit.. but it shows us how far these two criminals are willing to go. These two rob my home for 12k in personal items and when I accuse them, April, actually spun it and said that i “had it coming and should be more wary” Roger harrased me via text calling me a “ritch bitch” and he felt justified in stealing from me.. Nothing is too low to these two petty criminals.. I pity them.
Count me in on any attempt to bring these two to justice. Ill keep watching this feed to see if a call to action arises from this. I have hope!
Hey, i just got the rude awakening that I got away from working with these 2, and I am concerned for the other partner they brought on and who is still heavily invested. We should get in contact and get these guys.