Kate Cronemeyer loved everything about the African art she saw last summer while living in Taos, N.M., except for one thing its location.

She wanted to see it in downtown Lawrence.

Kimbari, a new store featuring tribal and African art, has opened at 15 W. Ninth St. Rafael Abrante, left, and Kate Cronemeyer are the co-owners.

So Cronemeyer, a Lawrence native, convinced Rafael Abrante, a partner in an African art store she frequented almost every day, to move to Lawrence.

Together they have opened Kimbari, a home decor store that focuses on tribal and African art. The store, at 15 W. Ninth St., opened last month and carries rugs, ceramics, hand-carved furniture and other items.

Many of the goods come from west Africa, but some also are from Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Iran and other Middle Eastern nations. All the items are handmade, one of the features that led Cronemeyer to fall in love with the pieces.

“How can you not love all of this stuff?” Cronemeyer asked. “It is so obvious the time, effort and caring that goes into each one of these pieces. I grew up in a house where art was really appreciated, and I just realized this was art that should be appreciated.”

Now the question is whether enough Lawrence residents will appreciate it.

“We know that it is like any other art in that you have to have people who like it and appreciate it,” Abrante said. “But we got to thinking why wouldn’t those people be in Lawrence? We didn’t come up with any reasons why they wouldn’t be.”

Cronemeyer said she and her partner hope to capitalize on Lawrence’s growth, in particular the growth in its non-student population.

“We know that one of the big challenges will be that Lawrence is still a college town, and this isn’t necessarily the type of store that caters to college students,” Cronemeyer said. “We think we have something that appeals to everyone, but our target market is pretty much people over 30 who have some disposable income.

“But we think the town is big enough to support a store like this, and there certainly isn’t anything else like it in town.”

Other Lawrence stores have tapped into similar markets, though. African Adorned, 5 E. Seventh St., started its business by selling African art 17 years ago, but now does 90 percent of its business by selling non-African products.

“I love African art so I hope they do well, but it can be a tough market,” Elizabeth Kurata, owner of African Adorned, said. “The challenge is that we’re a small Midwestern town and the number of people who are interested in African art isn’t like it is in a bigger city.”

Some items at Kimbari sell for as little as $5, but many are several hundred dollars, and up to $6,000 for an African bed hand-carved out of a piece of 100-year-old African lumber.

Many of the countries the store imports from, such as Afghanistan, have been prominent in world news since Sept. 11. Cronemeyer said the hostilities in that part of the world haven’t yet created a problem for the business, either in terms of supply or negative attitudes by Americans.

“We haven’t gotten any negative reaction from customers because it is not like the people who make this art are involved in any terrorist activities or things like that,” Cronemeyer said. “Most of it is made by women peasants, which makes their work all the more remarkable.”