KEARNEY, Mo. — KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland, including Liberty. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
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For 20 years, MoJo's Coffeehouse in Kearney has been more than a place to grab a cup of coffee.
For the regulars who have walked through MoJo's doors — some for nearly as long as it has been open — the shop has been a place to celebrate, grieve, work and live.
"This has been the place where our family has simply done life," Tracy Karnes said.
Karnes has watched the shop become a constant through some of her family's most significant moments — from her children's school days to her mom's later years.
When her mother began battling Alzheimer's, MoJo's remained a familiar comfort, even as her memory faded.
"This became the safe place for my mom," Karnes said. "They came out and engaged with her. And they heard the same stories over and over and over."
MoJo's owners knew her mother's order and decorated her cup with smiley faces — a small detail that meant everything.
"My mom didn't always know my name if I didn't have a name tag, but she knew she knew the faces on her cup," Karnes said.
That kind of attention to detail is something owner Anthony Strain said has always been central to how he runs the shop.
"You got to pay attention to that little stuff," Strain said.
Anthony and his wife Theresa Strain opened MoJo's 20 years ago. A photo from the day before they opened shows their youngest son in a walker at 9 months old and their oldest, then 3, standing nearby.
"Twenty went by really quick," Theresa Strain said.
The shop has weathered the recession and COVID-19, and through it all, the same faces have kept coming back.
"Most of our people are almost our everyday people, you know? You've seen them forever," Theresa Strain said. "They've just been part of our lives, and we're part of their lives."
For customers like Sarah Pack-Ashcroft and Waylon Ashcroft, who have been coming for 15 years, the shop has become a tradition passed down to their children.
"It feels like home when you come into it. We've been coming since high school, and we've started a tradition with our kids that we come at least once a week," Sarah Pack-Ashcroft said.
Waylon Ashcroft said the place means a lot to them.
"I would actually say family, yeah," he said.
Morgan Ryan has been a customer for 20 years and has even used the shop as her office.
"I feel like they've watched the entire progression of my life," Ryan said. "I've celebrated a lot of things here... A lot of things just don't last in a small town, [but] you're always hopeful that they will."
Anthony Strain said the longevity comes down to genuine connection, and he has no plans to stop showing up for his customers.
"We're all growing old together, basically. And it's kind of cool," Strain said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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