The coffee shop. Maybe for you, it’s a quiet place to enjoy your favorite beverage. Or an inviting place to socialize with friends. Maybe you enjoy grabbing a brew, a bite, and spending your day ensconced in a chair working remotely or enjoying a good book. Whatever the coffee shop is to you, their growing popularity makes it easier than ever to find the coffee shop for you – even in Greene County.
What is it about coffee that brings people to these places in ever-increasing numbers? Studies show that 64% of people visit a coffee shop at least once a week (Project Café USA 2023). Many people believe in the health benefits from coffee: a decrease in stroke, depression, cardiovascular issues, kidney injury, liver disease, and more. According to studies by Project Café USA, 0.5-3 cups per day lessen your risk of overall mortality by 12%. And likelihood of death over a seven-year period lessens by 31% when drinking 1.5 to 3.5 cups per day. Nothing like your favorite drink having some health benefits, too, right?
The independent coffee shop boom has reached Greene County with the emergence of five new independent shops over the past year. In Rices Landing, the Rices Landing Coffee Co. opened their doors in April. In Carmichaels, Press On Bakes & Brews and LK Café opened this fall. And over in Waynesburg, Morning Rush and RGB Coffee opened in June and November, respectively. And just recently, the Fredericktown Butcher Shop has opened a coffee shop inside its storefront.
Rices Landing Coffee Company
Kaiten Goolsby hadn’t originally planned on opening a coffee shop. At first, she had planned to open a preschool. However, after a local school district hired her, Kait knew that she couldn’t run a preschool while teaching full time. It was time to pivot, and the idea of opening a coffee shop came to their minds.
Choosing their location was easy. Kait and her husband lived in the apartment above the old dentist office in Rices Landing, near Rt. 88. They renovated the former office themselves and began the process of finding the right coffee and equipment and getting trained. The preparations took about a year and a half, and the Rices Landing Coffee Co. was born.
“There was nothing like this where we are. We also lived in the apartment above the coffee shop, which made it convenient for us. There were no coffee shops or cafes for people in the community to meet up, or to connect to the internet to get work done.”
On top of a diverse menu of hot, iced, and frozen espresso drinks, they offer specialty drinks depending on seasons, holidays, and even movies. For those who don’t drink coffee, they have smoothies, teas, hot and frozen cocoa, and chai tea. They collaborate with local bakeries Willow Tree Farm Bakery and Lindaz Little Bakery to provide delicious bakery items like cinnamon rolls, pumpkin roll slices, pepperoni rolls, and jumbo chocolate chip cookies. “We love incorporating local places, rather than buying from out of town. We all lift each other up. We plan to work with more small businesses in the future to have new, exciting events and items,” Kait says.
“People come to try our coffee shop and other new places because they are curious at first. After that, people are attracted to having delicious coffee, scrumptious treats, and a relaxing atmosphere. I believe our customers come back simply because our coffee is good, and we care. We strive to make our drinks consistent by following exact recipes and constantly come out with new specials.”
Press On Bakes & Brews
For Jamie Hollenbeck, opening Press on Bakes & Brews was at least two years in the making. Jamie started with a bakery (which still supplies goods for the shop). Once she decided to open the shop, it took about three months to really build up for the grand opening. But the dream of a coffee shop (or a bookstore) was something she’d talked about for a long time.
“It’s nice to hang out and be in your community, I think,” Jamie says. “Even if you’re not a people person, you can still sit quietly and enjoy it.”
Press on Bakes is unique among the other area coffee shops in that it only offers gluten-free items. While some places may offer selected gluten-free options, Jamie strives to create an atmosphere that those with gluten allergies can feel fully comfortable in, with no chance of accidental cross-contamination. It’s proven successful for her, bringing in customers from Fayette County and West Virginia looking for gluten-free options. She also carries syrups and items that the other coffee shops do not, including Italian sodas. Italian sodas are a craft soda, where you pick the flavor(s) you want and how you want it made.
Jamie works with other businesses and carries other gluten-free snacks and merchandise and art from local artisans. She hopes to expand to outdoor seating and a patio when the weather warms up. She also has plans to incorporate a loyalty program. Collaborating with other local businesses is important to Jamie: “If I don’t carry something they want, I’m happy to direct them to another business that may carry it. There’s plenty of business for everyone. If your business is pulling people in, and the other businesses are doing well, it will help you grow more. Everybody can help everybody, which is not always the mindset, especially in smaller towns.”
“Everybody has got their own thing, and their own atmosphere. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have variety. Everybody goes where they are comfortable. It’s good to have variety for everybody.”
LK Café at the Junction Deli
Owners Kaysee Lukacs and LaDana Maurin wanted to bring something to Greene County they knew wasn’t around, and they relocated their small café in Southpointe to Carmichaels. When looking for a location, they knew it needed to be near Rt. 21 for the traffic, and the former Junction Deli was the perfect place. Once they reached an agreement on the building, they prepared it for opening. The building needed extensive renovations, which were completed by the Lukacs and Maurin Families. “Without the Construction experience of Tommy Lukacs, Frank Lukacs, and Doug Maurin, none of this would of been possible” Kaysee says.
“Our goal is to have the community able to come here, not just in and out, but to hang out, work and watch TV” Tommy says. “We designed it homey and somewhere you want to come and spend time at.” LaDana says.
In addition to their iced, frozen, and hot coffee offerings, they offer over 24 flavors of Penn State Creamery ice cream and milkshakes. Fresh baked pastry’s and donuts from Valdiserri’s Bakery of North Belle Vernon.
Breakfast and deli sandwiches made on fresh baked bread for The Brown Bear Bread Company in Mt Oliver, PA. Other items include wraps, quesadillas, hoagies, salads, smoothies, smoothie bowls, soup and pizza all made with high-quality ingredients. Eventually, they’d like to open a drive-thru and plan on adding outdoor seating during the warmer weather. They also have online ordering available.
“Coffee is popular. Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts is booming. If you go to any town around Pittsburgh, there are coffee shops on every corner. People like to have something unique in the area they live, they like the hominess of the small coffee shops,” Tommy says.
“What’s nice is that every coffee shop in the county basically does something different and offers something different. So, while you’re overlapping in coffee, it’s still different, with different coffee flavors doing our individual things.”
Morning Rush
Morning Rush, located along Route 21 on the west side of Waynesburg, opened the summer of 2023. Opening a coffee shop had always been a dream of his, and when the 2020 pandemic hit, Duane decided that it was time to start working towards that dream over the next couple of years. “I knew the area would support it,” Duane says. “They had a need for it.”
In addition to their coffee, Morning Rush offers refresher drinks, something that isn’t common in the area’s other shops. They pride themselves on a great product and their personal connection with their customers.
“We have such a personal connection with our customers,” Duane says. “We like to joke and have a great time, and they do as well. There’s nobody that comes here that we don’t talk to on a personal level.”
Morning Rush recently closed their Tollgate Road location to prepare for a move to the West Greene area. They’ve leased the former Community Bank along Rt. 21 and are opening there soon. The new location allows them to expand their hours, have a covered drive-thru and offer new menu items. The new location will also let them keep that personal connection with their customers no matter the weather. “I feel bad when people are standing out there in inclement weather, and I’m trying to hurry. With the drive-thru, they’ll be in their cars out of the weather. I can still be as personal as we want to be.”
Once in the new location, he hopes to be able to provide jobs for students that allow them to earn some money and work around their school schedules. He also hopes to create a scholarship-type program for these students. While it’s still in the planning stages, he hopes to reward these employees with a scholarship or bonus that will help offset the costs of going to school. They’ve also been involved in other community fundraising endeavors.
“I think that people saw there was a need to get away from the corporate stores and provide good customer service with a good product. I think they’re looking for exactly what we offer,” Duane says. “Which is, number one, a good product. Because without a good product, it doesn’t matter how good your smile is or how good your conversation is, they’re not coming back if it’s a bad product. And number two is the personal relationship. It’s a driving force.”
RGB Coffee
Ben McMillen isn’t a stranger to small business. Over the years, he’s operated multiple small businesses in the area. What started as a side hustle for Ben during the pandemic grew into a full-time business – Hilltop Packs. He opened a location on East Greene Street in Waynesburg, and then added a coffee roastery. What started off as Ben’s curiosity about coffee roasting, grew into a business and became successful. And that’s when he decided he wanted to open his own coffee shop.
Before opening his own shop, Ben visited every small coffee shop he could find. He wrote down what he liked about each shop and took all the good parts of every place he visited to create a business plan. When the location along Washington Street became vacant, Ben was prepared to begin the task of creating his ideal shop.
“We tried to create an eclectic space that could only exist here,” Ben says. “We have a local history wall. We have local artists on the walls. All the chairs are different. We have a free book nook. We have a great staff. I just wanted it to feel like this is our coffee shop.”
The biggest draw of RGB Coffee, and what sets them apart from other local cafes, is that they roast their own coffee. Roasting their own gives them total control of all the coffee they serve. They also make their own pastries. Their bagels are shipped in from a place in New York. Online ordering is available on their website, as well as instant ordering at their tables via QR code. Eventually, in the spring, they plan on offering delivery, as well.
“I think there’s more of an opportunity in small towns than people realize if you can do it right. If you treat people right and give them a good product, and give them something they can be proud of, they’ll support you.”
Ben hopes to foster a sense of collaboration with other local small businesses. He carries products from local artisans in the shop. “We try to focus on as much local stuff as we can. I try to practice what I preach. And I try to tell everybody with a small business – if you’re going to have a small business in a small town, and you’re going to yell about supporting small business, you better go out and support small business yourself.”
And he hosts a business owner meet-up at RGB Coffee weekly (see Facebook for dates/times). “Anybody that wants to come down and collaborate, and work together, and share ideas is welcome. We help each other out, whether we’re directly collaborating on something special or just sharing ideas with each other. It’s been very helpful.”
“I wish business owners would support each other more. I’m hoping that the Thursday night get-together will get people doing that,” Ben adds.
Each of these area coffee shops maintains their individuality through atmosphere and specialties. While obviously offering coffee, they each provide something that the others do not in a unique atmosphere. And it’s the atmosphere that really draws people in again and again.
“It’s 100% experience. When you walk in, it’s not even really about the coffee anymore. Obviously, the coffee has to be good, but it’s about the experience,” Ben McMillen says. “If the person doesn’t enjoy their time here, they won’t come back. They’re not coming in and buying a cup of coffee they can make at home just because it’s that much better. They’re’ coming in because it’s part of the experience.”
Wherever you may find yourself in the area, know that a place where you can work, socialize, and enjoy a delicious cup of coffee isn’t too far away.