Campbell, California Since 1999
Cover Story
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer A Latte Music: Manic and Organic performs on a recent Thursday evening at Orchard Valley Coffee in downtown Campbell. Musicians are (from left) Craig Job, Eric Thompson and Reed Kappen. By Sheila Sanchez On the popular television show Friends, men and women frequently share sofa space at the fictitious Greenwich Village "Central Perk" coffeehouse, as well as meet at "The Fresh Cup," to drink coffee, relax and enjoy conversation. The scenes in many Campbell coffeehouses have begun to resemble those in the show, according to 27-year-old Pete Rice, manager of Campbell's City Espresso, which is located in the Kirkwood Plaza Shopping Center at 1820B Campbell Ave. "Coffeehouses are an alternative for those who don't like to drink alcohol and for those who don't want to drink during the day," Rice says. "People can get a buzz during the day, guilt-free. ... It's a comfortable place. It's not a threatening place to meet people, and everyone is generally friendly." Rice loves the coffee scene so much that he's worked for City Espresso for seven years. He says his coffee shop is also a good place to find business opportunities and conduct job interviews. "It's an alternative to the bar scene. It's coffee. Everyone loves coffee." Rice says coffee shops in Campbell have become even more popular than elsewhere because it's a small town and its residents are always looking for entertainment options. City Espresso is open until 6:30 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday and until 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. "People love the caffeine," Rice says. "A 14-year-old can drink the same drink as a 30- or 40-year-old person and can have the same feeling in their system. They're buzzed off the coffee. You don't have to be 21 years old to have a cup of coffee." The coffee shop features big windows, a friendly atmosphere, comfortable couches and chairs and relaxing music. City Espresso targets homemakers as its customer base, selling many products they buy, including cards, Christmas gifts and food. The coffeehouse can seat 200 customers. On a good day, the shop serves up to 300 customers, Rice says. City Espresso serves flavored, light roast, dark roast, decaffeinated and traditional espresso roast coffee. The most popular coffee is the house blend. Keith Cova, co-owner of Orchard Valley Coffee, located at 349 E. Campbell Ave., says coffee shops are becoming even more popular because people are choosing to stay away from the bar scene. "We've been here 10 years and we've been popular from the get-go," Cova says. "It's a different atmosphere. It's more relaxed. Women prefer it because they're not dealing with a drunk guy. They would rather hang out at a coffee shop and enjoy people who can put together a sentence without slurring. Not that I'm totally down on bars, but some are, and they come here all the time." Orchard Valley Coffee, which opened in January 1993, offers live music on some Friday and Saturday nights and stays open until 10:30 p.m. During the rest of the week, it's open until 9:30 or 10 p.m. On an average day, Orchard Valley Coffee serves between 300 and 500 customers a day. The shop offers customers high-speed Internet service. Its Internet service provider is located next door; thus they can avoid telephone lines and be directly connected to their server. "Some come in every day and some come in once a week and use their laptop. They can sit up front, have a cup of coffee and relax." Many customers use the shop as their office, Cova says, conducting outside sales away from their faraway offices. "They'll come here for an hour, get some work done, and they don't have to drive all the way to their offices," he says. Nancy Jacques, shift supervisor at the Starbucks at 267 E. Campbell Ave. (one of three Starbucks in Campbell), says that her store and others like it have become "the third place." "It's the place between work and home," says the 41-year-old Jacques, adding that some customers spend hours at the store using its DSL Internet connection to conduct business, meet with friends and visit Starbucks employees. "It's a great atmosphere. The customers are known by name. We have great music, and it's a great alternative to other places that are a little more loud and boisterous." Starbucks closes at 9 p.m. during the week, except on Friday and Saturday, when it closes at 9:30 p.m. The store's busiest evening is Friday night, when they serve about 600 customers. "It's an augmentation to the night scene," Jacques says, adding that some customers will visit Campbell bars like Stoddard's and then patronize the coffee shops, taking a break before returning to the bars. Other customers, however, admit that they frequent coffee shops because they don't drink but love coffee. Unray Moore, who visits the Starbucks in Campbell every day to ease his commute to Morgan Hill, is a financial planner and accountant. He says his visits to Starbucks allow him to write off his business mileage as long as he's working and gets on the Internet. "Most of my business partners go to Starbucks in the Bay Area," Moore says. "A lot of customers are coming to Starbucks that are business-inclined people. They're business owners who don't have business locations but who are on the Internet. They also love the good coffee, and Campbell is a nice area." Campbell resident Robbi McKenzie, 38, says she's been frequenting Campbell coffee shops to meet people for the past three years. "It's a way to get out of the house and have a great cup of coffee," she says while stirring her Frappucino. "It's not a pick-up place. It's not a bar, a club or a dance hall, and I don't get drunk. ... It's more of a social event than coming here to get any kind of buzz. I come here to sit, visit and socialize." She says, however, that some Friday nights at Campbell coffee shops are beginning to resemble a bar scene without the alcohol since many are packed with customers. Denise Sandoval, 38, loves coffee and drinks between eight and 10 cups a day. She patronizes all Campbell coffee shops, particularly Starbucks. "Coffee is not illegal. You can drink coffee and drive. You may get a little wired, but it's not anything you can get arrested for, but when you go to a bar, you drink, you get in your car, and it's not a good thing." Sandoval says that coffee shops are relaxing and great for socializing. "Society in general is taking the attitude that alcohol and tobacco are bad. Coffee is legal, and you can't get in trouble for drinking too much." Campbell is home to one of the Bay Area's most popular Christian coffeehouses, the Koinonia Koffeehouse, located at 1755 S. Winchester Blvd. Koinonia serves coffee and provides a clean, wholesome atmosphere in which Christians can meet and talk about their beliefs. The coffeehouse has been in operation since January 1993. It started hosting one concert per month and switched to twice a month in 1994. In 1995, it added a third event per month on months with five Fridays. And as of March 15, 1996, it has been open weekly every Friday night. "I was tired of expending a lot of effort to put on quarterly concerts that were only attended by small groups of people, says Koinonia's manager Michael Dow on the shop's website. "Also, my wife and I were tired of having to go out to a concert or a bar to enjoy local music. And we were looking for a way to provide a venue for local Christian artists to have a great place to play." He adds: "Koinonia is a cross between a coffeehouse and a Christian nightclub. Before the music starts and at the set breaks, it's a coffeehouse, but once the music starts and the lights go down, it's a nightclub-type setting. |
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