Picturesque, charming alpaca farm and shop. Beautiful setting in hills just west of the…read moreMississippi River at Bellevue, IA (just north of Maquoketa, IA on Hwy 61). The shop is in a newly refurbished house. Contains beautiful items made from alpaca yarn (including scarves, hats, gloves, socks, sweaters). Also, has skeins of alpaca yarn. Prices are reasonable for beautiful items. Owner Julie is very nice and helpful. She picked out a lovely brown sweater that I passed over and it looked great on me when I tried it on. The alpacas are just feet from the shop. In the barn and behind lovely white fences. They are so cute. We took lots of pictures. Great experience for the family. (Only open Fridays and Saturdays)

Outstanding and distinctive gift shop. Mac's Wine Cellar offers wine and cocktails. Martinis are…read moreunique and tasty. Tried new Cubano pizza last night, it was delicious! Lago's dark chocolate sea salt carmels were a perfect ending.

What a delightful shop and wine cellar...wished I lived closer so that I could stop by the wine…read morecellar and enjoy the live entertainment more often. The atmosphere of the place is so relaxing and inviting. I also like that the shop is carrying Iowa-made products. Worth stopping by!

They do a great job for a small store. Very knowledgeable about the product they sell.read more

Being new to Clinton, I was very excited to have a music store in such a small city. My first…read morevisit was awkward. I went to get my guitar neck fixed and got "yeah, we can probably do that, but you should take it somewhere else." as a response. Ok. Whatever. My next visit is the reason I will not be returning. My wife and I went in to look at guitar pedals. She's 25, I'm 24 and we definitely don't cut an imposing figure. She was wearing a dress and a scarf and I was wearing a button down shirt. The cranky old woman who works there came out, turned up her nose at us, gave a curt hello and proceeded to treat us like we had already stolen something. She followed my wife back to the discount section to keep a stern eye on her as she looked through discount Christmas music. As my wife got ready to check out, the woman called for reinforcements and wouldn't assist my wife until another employee came out. Never again. It was truly embarrassing. To the woman who "assisted" us, If you're worried about being around young people and their scary rock and roll music, maybe it's time for a new line of work? Perhaps something where we don't have to deal with you either. You cost your business at least $100.00 that day alone, and much more in the future as I'm in the market for a new guitar and amplifiers. All of which I will be getting from Guitar Center as yet another shoddy mom and pop shop goes out of business in Clinton.

Are you a local or passing through the Bellevue area who maybe contemplating buying a easy to ride…read moreBicycle? Maybe one that resembles those you grew up riding in your youth? Are you a Cycling junkie who enjoys talking stories with a well traveled soul that has his own to match? I have cycled many roads and met many colorful souls along the pedaling path of life. There is none finer than Mark a retired Veteran who worked the railroads in his other life. After being injured at work he made a decision to go to school to gather a "Certified Cycling Mechanic" label to add to his already love for building, and fixing things especially bikes. Once you come through the doors of his shop you realize this is a little different than most. Every nook and cranny of space is neatly utilized. It has a rhythm and a way as it begins to speak to you about this place he has named "The Backwaters Bicycle Shop". He has what must be close to 200 Bikes, an assortment of many types and styles all in the finest condition possible. I won't rave about the Bikes he has restored some from the 1940's, the kind that Mike Wolfe from American Pickers while visiting has tried several times but could not get him to let go of. I won't seek to amaze you with the prices on some of these beautiful Bikes he is selling with 1960 prices that are rebuilt to perfection or the newer bikes he has that are just what most who live in this Midwest Farmland might well be seeking. I suspect that once you visit you will not pass through Bellevue Iowa again on your way North or South without calling and checking to see if he is at work in "The Backwaters Bike Shop". It's an absolute must visit and will provide an opportunity to take a step back in time with what I consider one of the finest souls you will ever cross paths with.

I'm traveling with a touring youth musical group. We stayed at Bellevue high school for a couple…read more of rehearsal days, and that includes quite the entourage of vehicles. One of the vehicles is a food service trailer (that serves 240+ meals four times a day!) that has propane fired cooking equipment. We arrived on site with ample propane for our stay plus some over. During planning, we discovered that there would be no bulk propane available along the route to our next stop: instant panic! River Valley Energy to the rescue!!! Left a voice message late at nite wondering if there would be any possibility of a somewhat urgent delivery of propane in the morning. Call was returned at the open of business, arrangements made for someone to come out in advance to see what was needed, then within 90 minutes the tanker arrived and had our tanks full. We do love to use local businesses whenever we can, so in this case, it was a stroke of luck that there were no truck stops on our route with bulk propane available. Thank you, River Valley Energy for your very good service and responsiveness.

Having a really hard time understanding the 2 negative reviews. Had a great experience there, seems…read morelike one bad review needs to take a class on small business, and the other bad review could've been avoided by doing some more research, as well as asking some questions about the dealerships practices and process. Anyway with that outta the way, I'll talk about my experience. I walked in looking for a new handgun, I chatted with the owner (who I didn't think looked like the tiger king whatsoever?) who was very friendly. Chatted about calibers, politics, gun sizes for CCW, and then I asked to see a few pistols. He immediately grabbed what I requested, didn't flag me, proper trigger discipline, and set them on the counter, allowing me to view them, check the sights. Then he ran me down what each gun came with. I asked to look at a few more options, also not a problem. And made a decision on a nice Steyr 9mm. They got up the case and rang me up, he handed me the paperwork and was extremely clear on what needed filled out and where. At this point he handed me off to his wife who turned in the paperwork for a background check while he went and helped another customer out (with what sounded like was advice on buying through a private sale, basically he was helping someone who wasn't buying anything from him through what a private sale should look like, which in my mind is both excellent being a good person and a great way to earn a customer.) my background check went through within 2 minutes, and I payed for the gun. The owner then handed me some paperwork and a pamphlet for a free online course to get certified for my concealed carry permit which he explained was a good thing in case I brought the pistol with me to other states.... After the sale, you know, the part where most people/businesses smile and wave and say "see you next time"? I call that going above and beyond. On a final note one other review says that the owner had his FFL revoked so his wife has to do the transactions. I kind of doubt that, but you know what? Even if that's true, the ATF will revoke an FFL for an offensive social media post, or putting a stock on the back of a pistol, they change their rule book every two weeks and their opinion on a persons qualifications don't really mean much to me. Anyway, sorry about the text wall, I was just pretty frustrated seeing negative reviews that didn't really sound like they were the owners fault. 10/10, they have my current and future business. Hell I might go tomorrow for a rifle.

Went to purchase a gun case from here today. Says online and the door they open at 9. We sat there…read morea while after 9 and no one opened. So we asked the people next door and they said the owner took his kid to Chicago airport. No sign on the door or anything.... what a bust!

LOTS of stuff in a hoarders den! Try out many soft-tip darts…read moreon stands and choose from hundreds of flights.

There are not many dart shops anywhere. I mean REAL dart shops…read more This is not the fanciest retailer by far. Boxes piled up and cat food in the corner- but they have everything you need to keep your darts in tip-top shape. The old guy running the place knows his s#/t and keeps saying "consistency!". They stock a lots of darts and if you need something special they don't have he will have it shipped to you at no extra cost. We just fell lucky to have a real dart pro shop we can drive to in 35 minutes.