Natali Heuss hopes to open UberDork Café, N89W16750 Appleton Ave., later this month. The build-out is in full swing and will, hopefully, be completed within a couple of weeks.

The Menomonee Falls cafe is located next door to the popular Chinese restaurant Harvey Moy’s.

"It’s in the heart of Menomonee Falls, which is on the verge of some really great changes," says Heuss. "We’ve got an amazing art gallery, some cute little independent shops, a yoga studio and more."

UberDork Café is a cafe, gaming area, tech support station and classroom. Huess says she will start with light snacks – including chocolates by Confections of a Chocoholic and geek-themed creations by Sweets So Geek – along with Stone Creek Coffee and Rishi Tea.

The gaming area will feature console gaming – old school Atari, Nintendo Game Cube, PS2 and the like – as well as board games.

"Basically, if you can play it, we’re down to carry it," says Heuss.

The cafe will also host art and science classes geared toward kids and families.

"Everything from build-your-own robot out of recycled materials to creating your own comics and zines," says Heuss. "The focus is on basically providing a clubhouse for those that really don’t have one right now."

UberDork will also host movie nights on Fridays allowing parents to drop off their kids from 6 to 9 p.m.

"We’ll charge less than the price of hiring a sitter and the kids get to watch a movie, have a snack and do a craft that corresponds with the movie," she says.

The cafe will also house Geek Boutique which will offer handmade items by local and regional vendors. The space will also be available for parties.

During the day, Heuss will share the space with a friend who runs a tech consulting business called Future Lotus and small business owners will be able to receive tech, marketing and design services and support.

"It sounds wonky on paper, but it’s going to be great. It’s the only place like it in the world right now so we’re definitely paving the way. I think it’s something that really needs to exist," Heuss says.

Prior to opening the cafe, Huess did freelance graphic / web design and social media marketing under the business name UberDork Designs. She also runs an Etsy store.

Heuss and her two school-aged daughters have a history of doing "random acts of love" for friends and strangers and they plan to carry-out that mission through the cafe, too.

"We want people to be able to build things within their budget. We also want to be able to do things that support the community," says Heuss.

Opening the cafe is a long-time dream for Heuss that started out four years ago as a joke on Twitter.

"My handle on Twitter is UberDork Girlie and my love of coffee and geekery is pretty known," she says. "One day someone mentioned the other anchor spot in the strip mall that has American Science and Surplus and Lost World of Wonders was open and I should put an UberDork Café in it."

At the time, she was finding it difficult to find affordable age-appropriate art and science classes for her daughters and so she sat down and thought about the real possibility of opening a place that combined her interests and met not only her family’s needs but other people's as well.

"That’s where the birth of UberDork Café began. I went through all the research and created a business plan. I created programming, menus, the works," says Heuss.

However, Heuss then found out she had non-HPV-related small cell cervical cancer.

"My energy had to be refocused into fighting the cancer, taking care of myself and taking care of my girls," she says. "The dream got put on the back burner."

Heuss is still fighting cancer, but her prognosis is good and she decided to move forward with the plan. She also hopes to open a second cafe in Milwaukee someday.

"No matter what my job title has been, I’ve always been happiest when I’ve been helping other people reach their goals," says Heuss.

Heuss says she would not be able to have opened the cafe without the support of friends, family and community.

"I have managed to have the most amazing friends in my life that believe in me and this. The helpers are vast and wide," says Heuss. "My two daughters have been a huge part of this every step of the way, as well. One of my favorite moments as a parent was when they woke me up ridiculously early one morning. They’d had a ‘board meeting’ without me and came up with a very important decision about the café that they felt needed to be added into the plan. We needed to be open on holidays."

Heuss took their decision to heart and decided it was a great idea. She has since communicated with the owners of Harvey Moy’s to plan a collaborative Christmas Eve event.

"We’ll be serving Moy’s and watching 'A Christmas Story' at the café. Come in a bunny costume or dressed as Farkus and you’ll get free Ovaltine," she says. "Creating and play is good for the soul. We tend to forget that as we get older."

Stay tuned to OnMilwaukee.com for an exact opening date.