Article Contributed on: 1/20/2009 4:48:53 PM
Gina Hartley, of Edgewater, never believed she would one day be the proprietor of a coffee and pastry shop.
"I once told a friend that I would never work in a coffee shop because it was so hard," she said while preparing a café latte behind the counter of Edgewater Coffee Company, 5224 W. 25th Ave., Edgewater, on Jan. 15. "Now here I am."
A resident of Edgewater since 1963, Hartley opened the doors of Edgewater Coffee Company on Dec. 11 of last year because she said the city "needed a place for breakfast that wasn't a Starbucks."
"We needed more of a home-comfortable environment," she said. "You know, step outside of the box."
Hartley revels in the fact that everything Edgewater Coffee Company offers is locally manufactured and produced, from the edibles to the decorations.
"We sell locally owned Koda coffee, and all the paintings you see here are the works of local artists," she said. "The pastries, I get them from local bakers."
Hartley, who is a member of both the Recycle Edgewater and the Edgewater Community Garden committees, once spearheaded an operation called the "Pay it Forward Plowing Brigade" -- a local snow-clearing project directed to help neighbors get out from under seemingly impassable snowfalls.
"I had shoulder surgery in early December, so I was unable to shovel myself, but I live on an awesome street and my block is filled with senior citizens and I didn't want to see them outside trying to shovel the snow themselves," Hartley told YourHub.com in a 2007 interview.
Now a barista, cook and the face of the Edgewater Coffee Company, Hartley says that she "loves" the community aspect about what she does.>
"I give local discounts," she said. "This (coffee shop) is what community is about; friends, family. It's a network of people helping people."
Harltey, who was once a student of Edgewater Elementary, hosts an open mic night every Friday, which includes music from area high school musicians.
"If you're going to own a business, you've got to know everything about it," said Hartley. "My goal is to make this a place for the community to meet."
| MORE INFORMATION |
| The Edgewater Coffee Company is open from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays, Wednesday, Thursdays and Fridays and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. The shop is closed on Tuesdays. |
| For more information, call the Edgewater Coffee Company at 303-237-4383. |