Dundee's Newest Morning Stops Have No Indoor Seats. Here's How October on Underwood Works Anyway.
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
Two businesses on Underwood Avenue started serving morning coffee this year, and neither one has an indoor chair for you. TakeRoot Farm Stop at 5018 Underwood began selling to-go coffee on August 1. Duck Duck Bottle Shop at 4917 Underwood serves espresso in a backyard. For a neighborhood that runs on foot, that makes October an odd month. The coffee is new and good, but you're still holding it outside on the sidewalk or in the yard.
The two places ended up this way for different reasons, and those reasons shape the rest of the fall on Underwood. One is waiting on a waiver. The other was designed to stay outdoors in every season. And the Dundee calendar for the next three weeks is built almost entirely around the 50th and Underwood corner, outside.
TakeRoot opened on December 6, 2025, in about 2,500 square feet that used to be a furniture showroom. Co-owner Carla Gornall said in an August 2026 interview with the National Farm Stop Conference that the building needed only electrical and plumbing updates before opening. It works as a year-round farmers market. Producers set their own prices and get 70% of their sales, which Gornall said was the part farmers and ranchers liked most when she and Gordon Miller pitched the idea in 2024.
The coffee came later. Gornall said about $20,000 of the store's roughly $220,000 in startup costs went to coffee equipment that only went into use around the nine-month mark. Seating is a different story. In the same interview she said café seating would have required a third bathroom under county rules, and the building has no room for one. The owners hope the city will grant a waiver, since TakeRoot is mainly a grocery store and not a café. Until that happens, coffee there comes in a to-go cup. The certified kitchen in back still hosts workshops, educational programs and meetings.
Three people own the store. Gornall runs daily operations. Miller farms Grandview Farm in Fremont, and Matt Johnson owns Long Walk Farm in Council Bluffs, Iowa. If you've wondered why some of the produce and meat on the shelves comes from the far side of the river, that's the reason.
Duck Duck Bottle Shop is outdoors on purpose. Chloe Fortina and her husband, Casey Fictum, run it behind a century-old, three-story American Foursquare at 4917 Underwood. The Omaha World-Herald's spring 2026 story reported the shop was opening that Thursday, and Omaha Exploration's July 2026 profile says it opened in May. You walk up the driveway to get in. The front door of the house isn't the entrance. The bottle shop and a small bookstore are in the basement. Everything else, including the bar in an addition at the back of the house and the stage, is in the yard.
Fortina told the Omaha World-Herald the idea came from watching people squeeze onto an Omaha patio on a warm winter day. She described what they set out to build this way:
"A new type of outdoor space that feels like it's evolving with the people and the nature in and around it."
That idea goes back to before the opening. The Dundee-Memorial Park Association's October 2025 newsletter said Fictum describes Midwest weather as having four distinct "personalities." His goal is to adapt the space for each one, with seasonal "modes" meant to keep it comfortable in any weather. The newsletter also mentions a porous natural stone patio, native plant beds, vintage furniture the couple collected for over a year, and custom cedar tables. Duck Duck hasn't posted what its cold-weather setup will look like, so this will be the first winter anyone in Dundee gets to see those modes in use.
For now, the shop's own site lists these hours:
Other online listings show shorter hours, so check the shop's own page before you go. The morning menu has espresso, tea and toast. At night it adds wine, cocktails, beer and a nighttime tea service, and all the food is plant-based. The yard has a playhouse, and dogs are allowed.
The house has some history too. Omaha Exploration found the address in newspaper archives as early as 1916, when the Presson family lived there. They stayed until 1955, and in 1956 the property was zoned commercial.
Most of Dundee's October takes place outside or right at the curb, which makes it a good match for two coffee stops with no indoor seats. Here is what is posted as of October 2:
The Oct. 17 date is the last of the season for Third Saturdays. The Dundee Merchants run the series April through October, weather permitting. That leaves Treats on the Street as the district's last scheduled daytime event outdoors this month.
If you're driving in early in the month, the city posted a utility-work restriction on South 50th Street between Farnam and Howard. Flaggers started Oct. 1 at 9 a.m., and the work was scheduled to last 10 days. If the schedule holds, it should be finished before the Oct. 17 concert.
Dundee's outdoor events have grant money behind them now. The district became a certified Nebraska Creative District in the summer of 2025 and received a $10,000 certification grant from the Nebraska Arts Council. That first round of funding helped pay for Third Saturdays. In early 2026, the Arts Council added a $100,000 grant for arts programming, public art and placemaking. That's ten times the size of the first award.
One project on that list is the Dundee Drive Art Stop, a public art project meant to make it easier to walk between Dodge Street and Underwood Avenue. The same funding supports more Dundee Day programming and more live music and performances. The Memorial Park access plans on the Oct. 13 agenda come from a separate effort, but they're also about getting people up the hill and around the neighborhood on foot.
That money explains the fuller calendar. A district that's paid to program its sidewalks and corners will plan more outdoor evenings, and Duck Duck's stage and TakeRoot's to-go cups work well with that kind of calendar.
As of October 2, the Dundee Merchants haven't announced a date for Lights on Dundee 2026. The most recent post about the event on their blog is from 2025. Last year it was held Thursday, December 4, from 5 to 8 p.m. at 50th and Underwood. There were Santa photos in front of the Dundee mural, carols by local students, free trolley rides from Dundee Bank, and activities at businesses along the street. Duck Duck was on that 2025 list, months before its spring 2026 opening, with holiday R&B saxophone on its stage and a nighttime tea bar.
For November, the Blues Society of Omaha lists the Jenkins-Kilgore Jazz Quintet with Jorge Nila, Joey Gulizia and Mike Daly at Dundee Dell, 5007 Underwood, on November 5 and November 12, both 7 to 10 p.m. Both listings were posted well ahead of time, so confirm them closer to the date.
The district's merchant calendar still lists Elleon, a wine-and-cocktail tasting room at 4915 Underwood, as "Coming Soon." Until it opens, the two coffee stops on this stretch of Underwood are still serving with no indoor seats.
If you live in Dundee and want to talk through what's changing on Underwood, or how a block like this fits your plans down the road, The Good Life Group is glad to help. Contact a Good Life Group agent anytime. We'll keep an eye on the corner of 50th and Underwood this winter too.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
Stay up to date on the latest real estate trends.
When you are represented by dedicated real estate professionals who are inspired to live up to the trusted reputation of the Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate brand, you can enjoy peace of mind throughout the entire home buying and selling process.
Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate - The Good Life Group