JARRETT GOODMAN
Staff Writer
The town of Powells Crossroads has welcomed a new coffee shop with open arms, as residents Anita and Mike Miller recently hosted their grand opening for Mercantile Coffee Company on New Year’s Eve.
Mercantile Coffee is the couple’s newest establishment within the Powells Crossroads community, incorporating the business alongside BB at the Studio, the couple’s event planner and craft store. Anita explained BB at the Studio will continue to operate alongside the coffee shop, with the only major change being doing away with the retail stock to make room for Mercantile Coffee.
“We did away with most of our retail,” said Anita. “We still got a little bit of retail with the coffee shop, but the whole front area was once retail. So we did away with that.”
Anita explained a variety of both regular and signature coffee flavors are served within Mercantile Coffee, several of which are provided with the option to be made hot or iced. In addition to all coffee-based beverages, sodas across major brands, like Sprite and Coca-Cola, are sold, including being used for the shop’s signature “Dirty Soda” beverages. Dirty sodas come in five different variations, ranging from the Barbie Girl, which consists of Sprite as the base mixed with strawberry and mango syrup and topped off with a strawberry flavored cold foam, to the Dr. Elephant, which is made with Dr. Pepper, cherry and vanilla syrup with sweet cream.
“You can come in and get a sweet tea, or you can come in and just get a brewed cup of coffee,” said Anita. “If you want something kind of basic and standard, we got you covered on that as well.”
Pastry items are also provided within the coffee shop for customers to purchase, with different items rotating and being sold each day. Anita added she and Mike are looking ahead to eventually add small breakfast and lunch items to the coffee shop’s menu, aiming to expand the menu as the business sets its roots within the area.
The Millers established Mercantile Coffee to help provide a new social space for the town where both residents and visitors can gather and enjoy a brewed cup of coffee or pastry dish in a welcoming atmosphere. Anita hopes by opening the coffee shop in downtown Powells Crossroads it will attract more foot traffic into the community.
“We really need something community wide here for people to come to,” said Anita. “We’re hoping that people would come, they’ll be here, and we’ll have different businesses that hopefully will grow in the community.”
Mercantile Coffee is located at 140 Highway 27 and is currently open from Friday to Sunday each week. The Millers are looking to expand upon the weekly schedule in the future.