Coffee and (___) goes from pop-up to permanent in Jefferson Chalmers

We sure do love our pop-ups in Detroit. And beyond just the novelty of having an experience in a space that you wouldn't otherwise be able to have (a Guns + Butter dinner at Shinola perhaps, or an independent toy store on Woodward just in time for the holidays), pop-ups serve an important purpose: they vet new businesses for long-term sustainability, allow aspiring entrepreneurs to test out different neighborhoods, and activate spaces that would otherwise remain vacant. And sometimes – more and more often now – they lead to permanent businesses opening.
 
Coffee and (______) is the latest Detroit pop-up that is going permanent. After a successful run in West Village last year (which Detroit Vegan Soul was also a part of) and another in Jefferson Chalmers earlier this year, Angela Foster, owner of Coffee and (_____), has decided to make her pop-up space on East Jefferson her permanent home.
 
Coffee and (______) opened in Jefferson Chalmers this past June after Shelborne Development restored several commercial buildings in the area and the American Institute of Architects Urban Priorities Committee added all the finishing touches.
 
After the scheduled pop-up period ended on Jefferson, Foster took some time to travel around and decide what she wanted to do next. She considered working harvest season in northern Michigan wine country, among other things, but the more she thought about being away, the more she missed being here in Detroit and the more she missed her shop. So she called Ritchie Harrison, economic development director of Jefferson East Inc., and asked if she could come back. "No one had shown any interest in the spaces yet so he was thrilled," she says.
 
As a neighborhood still working to define itself, Jefferson Chalmers has a strong community but not necessarily a lot of visibility outside of it. "It's going to take some time to get people excited about (these spaces)," Foster says. But for her it was worth taking the leap. She said she is finally getting commuter traffic and is now trying to go seamlessly from pop-up to permanent. She is still doing all the work herself – that includes all the baking (the selection changes daily) and customer service – but is now getting some help from a Shifting Gears program participant.
 
Coffee and (_____) will continue to operate while Foster finalizes all of the paperwork and licensing to become a full-fledged permanent café. You can visit her 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The business is closed Tuesdays.
 
Source: Angela Foster, owner of Coffee and (______)
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

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