/dev/null

Well, its been a hectic few days for me (and will continue to be so until I get out of this place) but Tim and Justin’s coffee shop is NOW OPEN! wooohoooo! They had a super-limited close friends and family pre-celebration on saturday, a pre-opening for some bands and scenesters on sunday, and officially opened for business on monday. Tuesday was the first day of school for NDSU and everthing is running like clockwork. Business has been very good and very steady (with pauses from time to time which gives them a chance to breathe) and the first few days have brought a real eclectic mix of folks into the shop. Everyone from Bob Stein (downtown city planner) to John Lamb (from the Forum) to Trenchcoat Jeff (odd Fargo street fellow and vegan activist) has been seen. pre-opening advertising was done punk-show-flyer style ALL OVER town for the past month (concerts, small shows, parking ramps, college campuses, etc) and they got an article in the HPR, the Spectrum, and I imagine the Forum will follow. (john lamb lives right upstairs from the shop and loves the shop and the people it brings around.) There were even I’d say a dozen different people who came and took flyers to hand out without ever being asked. Those people include at least 4 guys who work at “competing” coffee shops around town who were handing flyers out to CUSTOMERS. talk about ballsy. The interior space couldnt have turned out better. Its dark, dim, comfortable, smells faaantastic, and the front space may even lean towards creepy elegance. Adbusters, design mags, art books, and other oddities litter the tables, couches, and booths. The booths are from Ralphs Corner and its a perfect homage. The patron reaction has been over-the top and the space and people have created an instant buzz. All of this I assume will wear off eventually but the place is so unique that its hard to argue that it has an equal anywhere in town. The back room is where the venue space is and they will have their first show on the 27th. My gut feeling is that the place will be packed beyond capacity. There are 4 bands playing and almost every single member of the bands has been pushing and supporting the shop with a fervor.

All signs are pointing to immediate success for the fellows which is EXACTLY what they needed. They simply didn’t have pockets deep enough to weather a period of time in which a clientele was gently built. Prayers and hard work are, of course, still needed. If you get a chance to check the place out I highly reccommend it. Its the first time in like 9 years that Fargo/Moorhead has had an actual low-key coffee house designed by, created for, and focusing on high-scool, college, freaks, geeks, and misfits.

gotta go. work calls. check out the coffee shop. bye.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 24th, 2005 at 11:43 am and is filed under /dev/random. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.