Joint business featuring coffee and play open in Lake Mills

LAKE MILLS — “A community living room” is how Abbie Pabon described her vision for the space shared by Present Not Perfect Play Co. and Simple Kup coffee that opened earlier this year.

Pabon is the co-founder of Present Not Perfect, a company that creates sensory kits for children to play with to promote “social emotional learning topics” at home. Present Not Perfect was originally founded in 2021 as an online business, but Pabon said they eventually wanted an in person space.

She was out to dinner one night in Lake Mills and, when she saw a building for sale at 123 N. Main St., decided to purchase it in December 2023. Through a mutual friend, they heard about Pete Herbst and asked him to open a coffee shop in the same space.

Herbst had experience as a coffee shop owner in Stoughton. He sold that shop at the end of 2022, and had been in Lake Mills selling coffee out of his coffee camper in 2023.

When he received the message asking him to open a coffee shop in Lake Mills, he took a few days to consider, but was quickly on board.

Simple Kup and Present Not Perfect then officially opened their storefront in March 2024, and have been growing since.

“For us the community response has been very positive,” Pabon said.

Present Not Perfect has weekly reading times on Monday and Wednesdays, and Pabon said they hope to add more activities and invite in more groups in the near future.

Herbst said he sees more people each week and month. He is trying to listen to what people want, and still keep things simple: like the name, Simple Kup.

“I think we just want this place to feel warm and welcoming,” Pabon said. “We want people to feel supported here.”

Pabon and Herbst hope people can come into Simple Kup for a variety of activities, whether it’s a meeting or work, and have a place for the kids to play in the space near Present Not Perfect. Because both of them are parents, they tried to make it as kid-friendly as possible.

Pabon notes that Present Not Perfect is open for birthday parties, and more information about how to book the space, upcoming events and how to order products can be found at the website: presentnotperfectllc.com.