SigMT

SignatureMT | 95 ABOVE: Located on the corner of 5th Street North and 1st Avenue North, customers can treat themselves to lunch before meandering next door for a special dessert. BELOW: Crooked Tree Coffee and Cakes owners Leah and Lindsay are committed to providing their customers with homemade beverages and baked goods. walking distance, it is also the home of four businesses of its own. CROOKED TREE COFFEE AND CAKES For nearly six years, sisters Leah Robinson and Lindsay Hager have operated their gourmet coffee and custom cake shop out of the Montana Building's former pharma- cy space. "We really like the older, downtown feel," explains Leah, "and we wanted a space that had character." Wood stump table pedestals, exposed brick walls and a steel cable-lined mezzanine add to the rustic, easygoing feel of Crooked Tree's open siing area. Patrons craving an intense game of Scrabble may be pleased to find like-minded wordsmiths seing up a tourna- ment at a center table. Crooked Tree provides made-from-scratch fare, to include homemade coffee syrups and artful- ly detailed cakes with flavors such as "Mixed up Marble" and "Celebration Champagne." Private consultations with one of the business's two cake artists are also available on site. MCMEEL INSURANCE e Montana Building has been home for Mike and Di Rydell's third generation insurance agency for the past five years. By focusing on the technological aspects of the industry, McMeel has expanded the means by which they interact with clients. "From the time they walk in the door," Di says, "we want people to get the vibe that we're different. We want to make it about the overall customer experience, not just selling a product."

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