We bought the building that will be Story Coffee House in the fall of 2020. It needed some love, but we had a vision for what it COULD be.
So much progress has been made since we made that purchase. I entertained the idea of blogging about the process – outlining the steps, discussing our hardships, taking progress photos. I did a little of this on social. I shared behind the scenes photos every couple of weeks or so. But I didn’t have it in me to write about, simply because I was TIRED.
I’m still tired. But as the days grow longer, I feel a little more energy and a little motivation to knock out some of the little things I enjoy.
I think, pretty much constantly, about the projects we’re juggling. Native Brew Works is up and running, but still demands a lot of attention from us both. Jackson is more than just a co-owner, he also acts as general manager, which means he’s working most afternoon/evenings Wednesday through Saturday, and most Sundays. I manage the marketing and promotion, which means between social media, a newsletter, website, and sometimes two events a month – there’s more than enough for me to do.
It’s busy season at my “day job” which I still love, and that’s a minimum of forty hours a week, often more. I’ve started freelancing – designing logos and menus – and we’ve even started investing in other buildings on Gee Street (more on that later).
And in the midst of all that, there’s Story. Story Coffee House has been “in-between” for some time. We began demo almost immediately – tearing out the front office, pulling down the panels that made the dropped ceiling, pulling so many, MANY staples from the roof, getting rid of old wasp nests, etc. But to get the REAL work started, we needed funding. We spent hours upon hours writing a business plan and detailing a list what needed to happen to the building and what we would need to open a coffee shop. Then we went to the bank, asked for money to make our improvements and get this business going. When we were approved for “real money”, we needed to get our plans drawn up by an architect, and approved by the city. Then came the work with the contractors. I am immeasurably grateful that my husband, who has experience in this kind of work, dealt with all of this. It was as painless as it could be, probably, for me, but still, we spent SO MUCH MONEY for months on end without really SEEING the progress. Electric and plumbing are essential, of course, to updating the building for coffee equipment, to have new bathrooms, to light the space appropriately, and to have outlets everywhere we need. But the plumbing in the ground and the conduit along the wall isn’t really gratifying to watch.
Everything always takes longer than you think, and for what seemed like SO LONG progress was made though it didn’t really FEEL like it.
Eventually, slowly, we started to see our vision come together. The awning out front came down and we landscaped it with new sidewalks and room to plant things later. Our old sign got a new look, updated to feature our logo. Jackson built the coffee bar, the bathroom walls, and added the posts to help stabilize the roof. He tiled the bathrooms and the bar, poured a concrete counter, and fixed windows. He put in shelves and built a fence. Bethany dug in to the details of our menu and the operations of the building. Brent painted trim, laid sod, and ordered an espresso machine. I began to layout our marketing plan, cleaned, and drafted our service strategy. We ordered furniture, we asked for money (things are getting more expensive), and we started interviews.
We’ve still got a few more big steps to go before we open, but this building has turned from interesting and full of potential to a BEAUTIFUL coffee shop that I can’t wait for people to enjoy. As our pictures on Instagram transform from covered in dust progress to a carefully curated space filled with light and pretty things, I think a lot about what it took to CREATE that space.
We’ll be snapping pics of latte art, books on the shelves, and velvet couches. It will look glamorous and pretty and inviting. But I’m reminded that we worked damn hard to make it that way.
As I post more and more photos of a beautiful coffee shop that I’m so thankful to call mine (ours), if you see them and think “wow that must be nice” or “how cool” please remember that we busted up concrete and were covered in nasty wasp nests and spent early mornings and late nights to make those pics happen.
In-between every beautiful/cool/fun space and what it WAS, there was hard work to make it happen.