Subconsciously all of you know you want ice cream at any moment. Bill Abney figured out that business truism a long time ago and built his Makanda boardwalk mecca around the biological fact people have absolutely no choice when it comes to melting cold desire.


Makanda country store


don't just be there. be here.

August 21, 2017 1:21 PM

Bill Abney


Abney realized you also want delicious coffee sometimes, too. Fresh-roasted varieties of many of the world’s coffee beans are continually restocked in his shop. Teas and locally roasted coffees are right here, too. A fresh cup can be bought and enjoyed while reading a newspaper.



These days longtime business associate Phil Beck will take your order. Semi-retired, Abney now scoops ice cream and pours coffee one or two days a week while Beck has assumed, among his other diplomatic duties of business, the role of morning-coffee roundtable moderator. People drinking coffee in a small town have opinions. The problems of the universe are on the table here each morning. Seven days a week, somebody will be more than happy to tell you what needs to be said. Heads will shake. Fingers get pointed. Then somebody orders another bagel with cream cheese and bacon. Disagreements vanish as the smell of bacon instantly makes submission reasonable. By noon, coffee lectures adjourned, the ice cream scooper is at work again and everyone who comes anywhere close to the Makanda Country Store realizes, inevitably, they really have no choice but to step inside.