Josiah’s to close temporarily this spring for ‘rearranging’ project

Feb. 24, 2022

A popular downtown coffee shop will be closed for almost a month for what its owners are calling a “rearranging” project.

“We just are going to make the whole experience so everything flows a little better,” said Kibbi McCormick, co-owner of Josiah’s Coffeehouse, Cafe & Bakery.

“The aesthetics will stay the exact same. It’s just to help improve the flow for the customer.”

That includes moving the ordering counter closer to the door, removing walls to open up the event space and doubling the number of bathrooms. The project also will add a second fireplace.

The coffee shop at 104 W. 12th St. will be closed March 21 through April 13 for construction.

When it reopens, “customers will come down the steps and look at the pastries and pie cooler before getting to the register,” she said. “Right when they walk in, there will be a register to pick up to-go orders.”

Now, customers have to walk through and stand in line in the dining area to place their orders.

The new counter will be along the west wall.

The Phillips Gathering Space will become an open area.

“We’re just completely opening it up,” McCormick said. “That room was kind of dark. Now it will be lighter in there.”

Three new booths will be added in that area. They’ll feature higher backs with frosted glass for more privacy, she said.

“We’ll still be able to host things if we need to after hours. We won’t have any big meetings during the day. Usually, we couldn’t do it because it was so busy anyway.”

Offices in the basement will be turned into a meeting room for up to 16 people.

The bathrooms will expand from one stall for men, one for women and one unisex to three each for men and women and one for employees.

“The bathrooms were a major necessity,” she said.

In the dining area, some of the bigger tables will be removed and replaced with tables for four that can be extended into round tables that will seat three or four more people. Fewer large groups are gathering, McCormick said.

“People don’t want to sit together as much after COVID.”

She and partner Tom Pepper bought the coffee shop at the beginning of 2020, only a couple of months before the pandemic.

A second phase of the project later this year will enlarge the kitchen. McCormick anticipates being closed for only a couple of days for that work in the fall.

The coffee shop is open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., but hours might be extended into early evening this summer, she said.

McCormick encourages customers to keep up-to-date with construction progress and changes in hours on Josiah’s Facebook page.

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Josiah’s to close temporarily this spring for ‘rearranging’ project

“We just are going to make the whole experience so everything flows a little better.”

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