July 3, 2006

Coffee shop owner abandons attempts to make
Lincoln Avenue spot for South Bay jazz

Coffee shop stays a coffee shop, previous owner
hunts for music venue

By Daniel DeBolt and
Laura Rheinheimer
Staff writer and Times intern

Willow Glen Coffee Roasting Company is going through some changes—a new name, new owner and new family. Long-time owner Chris Carris sold the roasting company to its new owner Yukimi Kim after realizing Lincoln Avenue just wasn’t going to work out for his vision of a premier South Bay music venue.

New owner Yukimi Kim poses in the former Willow Glen Coffee Roasting Company, which is now Monsieur Beans of Willow Glen. Photo by Daniel DeBolt

Buying the Willow Glen Coffee Roasting Company coffee shop might seem like an act of courage when Starbucks stores are starting to dot the land like trees in Willow Glen.

A Starbucks coffee shop already exists directly across the street from the Willow Glen Coffee Roasting Company and Peet’s Coffee & Tea is blocks away, while yet another Starbucks just opened down the street. Despite the large number of coffee shop chains in the handful of blocks that make up Willow Glen’s downtown, Kim, 31, is “full of confidence” that Willow Glen Coffee Roasting Company’s new incarnation will be successful under her management, which started May 27.

Kim, who renamed the shop “Monsieur Beans of Willow Glen,” calls herself a “people person,” and wants the shop to continue its tradition of being the unique coffee shop in the area for people who want something Starbucks and Peet’s can’t offer. She is aiming to sell an experience, not just independently roasted coffee.

Some customers are thankful Carris didn’t just close up shop. Keeping the shop open will give customers like Lillian Guajardo an alternative choice for a coffee shop.

“I try not to go to Starbucks too much,” she said. “I just don’t like the big places taking over. I just think that’s kind of bad. The same thing happens to book stores.”

Guajardo said she had been a Willow Glen Coffee Roasting customer for about two years because she liked the music, the comfortable seating and the crowd, which is a bit different than the crowd at Starbucks.

“I don’t think of the store as a competitor of Starbucks or Peet’s,” Kim said. People come to the store for “something unique—I want to sell an environment, not just a product.”

Its unique qualities were an example of why people come to downtown Willow Glen instead of places like Santana Row, said Norma Ruiz executive director of the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association. That’s why she’s supportive of the shop.

Regardless of the competition within shouting distance, Carris insisted he sold the company in order to be “liquid” to buy a suitable venue for a potential jazz house.

Carris, who owned and operated the shop nearly eight years, decided to look elsewhere after he tried to expand the coffee house to turn it into a first-rate music spot. He was unable to secure more space in the building. He tried to rent more space and even attempted to be first on the list to buy the space if it went up for sale.

Under Carris’ ownership, local bands played Saturday nights at the shop, a tradition Kim hopes to continue. The space currently holds around 100 people, including standing room, which was not as good as Carris had hoped, he said. Carris said he had success during the high-tech boom, but after 2002, he couldn’t fill the house.

Without adding more seating to bring in top-notch bands, Carris realized the Lincoln Avenue location would not suffice for his plan to make an entertainment venue.

“Unfortunately, it puts you in an awkward position,” Carris said.

Carris was injured in a car accident in 2003 that put the left side of his body out of commission. His stepson ran the business for a year. Once he returned, Carris continued his efforts to make a jazz house.

He said he sold the business so he could be in the position to buy a venue, which he and realtors are on the lookout for. When the Gaslighter went up for sale, Carris said he was not in a position to buy it. He said he will continue to look for a prime location, possibly with partners, where he can host music and entertainment in the evenings and serve coffee during the daytime.

Carris said he hopes to have something in the works in a year or two. Meantime, he is working on a Willow Glen historical memorabilia Web site.

Kim said the shop will undergo some changes, but she is trying to keep a low profile while getting a feel for her customers. The obvious changes are that the old owner and his family are nowhere to be seen and on one side of the shop, the walls are a bright orange to liven up the place and show Kim’s affinity for the San Francisco Giants.

Kim said she wanted to continue the tradition of displaying art from local artists every month with an artist’s reception afterward at the shop. And Kim said she wants to continue the tradition of hosting live bands every Saturday night from 8 to 10 p.m.

She plans to serve more food by creating a combination menu where you can buy coffee or a drink and breakfast or lunch together for a set price. And there will be a focus on healthy, all-natural food on the new menu, Kim said.

“We’re a small company but a big family,” Kim said of the four employees she hired to replace the Carris family members who previously worked in the store.

“Don’t worry, we’re not going to be gone soon,” she said.