Valley Coffee Scene Perks Up with Indie Shops

For Dwayne Hartford, this is a perfect time to be in the Valley. The reason? There are plenty of neighborhood coffee shops where you can sit down, open your laptop and spend a couple of hours sipping java while working.

“It’s just a different feeling,” says Hartford, an actor and playwright with Childsplay. “It gets you out of the house, and you feel like you’re part of the community.”

That kind of communal experience is becoming more common in the Valley. Although the local coffee scene remains dominated by corporate cappuccinos (Starbucks in particular), the number of independent shops is rapidly growing. Blogger Chris Tingom estimates there are 136 independent coffee shops in the Valley. About a dozen of those opened in the past six months.

Next up is Giant Coffee, which is highly anticipated because of who’s behind it: Matt Pool, owner of the hugely popular Matt’s Big Breakfast. The shop should be open by the end of the month.

“A lot of these shop owners are passionate about serving good coffee,” says Tingom, whose blog is called Arizona Coffee (www.ari zona-coffee.com). “Consumers are learning that there’s good coffee and crappy coffee, and now maybe the Phoenix area is ready for more coffee shops.”
In the past year, shops with such names as the Royal Coffee Bar, Dolce Espresso Video Coffee Bar and Urban Beans have appeared on the landscape. The shops tend to boast distinctive vibes – cozy or funky, or a combination of the two.

Urban Beans, with its hand-painted tables, vintage chairs and high-tech lighting fixtures, is such a blend.

“What’s happening with this economy is that people are craving community,” says Virginia Senior, who owns Urban Beans with her business partner, Kim Kristoff. “People are supporting each other, and that need is driving a lot of people.”

At Urban Beans, the sense of community is heightened by a board filled with fliers of activities in the neighborhood near Seventh Street and Osborn Road.

“It’s sort of a snapshot of who comes in here and what’s going on,” Senior says. “We may have a Wiccan poster up, then something about a religious gathering and then a flier talking about the Clean Energy Act. It’s eclectic.”