Why Coffee and Comics (& More...)?
A. I like diversification. It works.
2. Lack of options. When we opened there weren't any coffee options except for gas station or diner coffee. There aren't any real book stores in town either.
III. We're nerds. Let's face it - nerds are fueled by caffeine. The combo is awesome. Not all nerds drink coffee but I'm pretty sure the whole caffeination portion is relatively universal.
Seriously though, David and I were both working in fields that were customer service driven, except that it always seemed to come down to the bottom line. That always won out instead of giving the customer what they wanted. We'd both spent a lot of time in meetings being preached to about taking care of our customers when we could have been out doing just that. We wanted something different, hopefully something better.
The initial idea was to start a comic book store but we were worried a stand alone store wouldn't be able to support itself in a smaller rural area. The foot traffic hasn't been what we'd hoped so it's a good thing we have another draw. It has been surprising how many comics and book we sell. On an average month I sell more than 500 books. That's not too shabby but it really doesn't touch the coffee sales. We do understand comics are a niche market.
Coffee is obvious, especially since we started roasting our own beans. With the purchase of the roaster I cannot say I've saved money on beans to this point but the process is highly rewarding. It has opened up a world of customization that we didn't have before. A future blog will be about our current project - Bourbon Barrel Aged Coffee Beans...
The "& More..." portion is just that. We have a meeting room (Mad Hatter's Tea Room) upstairs that can be rented or just enjoyed. We have vendor spaces where local artisans and crafters sell their wares. For awhile the Birch Den Massage Therapy was housed upstairs (She has since outgrown our space and opened her own shop). There are also a few other ideas in the works that will fall under this category in the future.
All in all, diversification really does work. It is difficult to juggle some days with all the different orders. Comic book ordering can be quite labor intensive with trying to keep everyone's requests sorted while also keeping beverage supplies in stock. It can be a headache but it's worth it. We offer a spot for people to come in and relax, catch up with friends, shop for awhile, or have a meeting. We've drawn travelers off the highway, which is impressive in itself since we're two miles from the interstate. People like to take a break and don't care for the chains. We are unique in all we offer but I highly encourage others to diversify as well. Find your own groove. Find what works for you