The End of Four Friends
July 13, 2008
After nearly fourteen years of operation, Four Friends Coffeehouse in downtown Grand Rapids opened its doors for the last time yesterday.
Day One
When Sara and I and our friends David and Melissa LaGrand opened Four Friends Coffeehouse in 1994, we had no idea it would last as long as it did. In fact, we weren't sure if we'd be able to sustain it for a year. I still remember the day we opened, November 1. The night before we were rushing around "the space," as we called it, tidying up the new supplies behind the counter, arranging the syrup bottles, checking and rechecking all the things we thought we needed. David's brother Paul had half a store's worth of ceiling tiles laid out on the floor, running a paint roller over them as fast as he could so that others could set them in place, still wet, in the frame above.
David had set a blistering pace for the construction and preparation of the coffeehouse, and we hit the ground running as soon as Sara and I pulled into the LaGrands' driveway with our Ryder truck from Seattle two months earlier. We designed the place, tore out the floor and walls, and rebuilt it in sixty days. We hired electricians and plumbers. We ordered plates and glasses, coffee machines and pump pots, kitchen appliances and supplies. We established relationships with food and beverage suppliers. We basically worked nonstop.
But we weren't the only ones working. Yvonne Daniels gave advice on design elements. Kelly Clark put up a lot of drywall. David's brother John built a long bench with three old oak doors for the back. Sara's Uncle Fred and Aunt Ginny and her brother Andrew helped us tear down the old and build up the new. Other friends and family such as Ray and Ann Kapteyn and Graham pitched in with both specialized construction skills and general labor. It was a huge undertaking that wouldn't have been possible without the small army that contributed to it.
We opened the doors that first day at 7:00 a.m. and waited and worried. One of our first customers was Don Levy, a healthcare provider for David's grandmother. Not a coffee fan, Don ordered a hot chocolate with whipped cream and proceeded to exclaim with unbridled enthusiasm to whoever peaked through the door that it was the "best hot chocolate I ever tasted!" Other friends and family trickled in throughout the day as well, but the place wasn't exactly buzzing with activity. Still quite early in the morning, I took a couple grilled panini out front and offered them, in a quiet, apologetic voice, to the handful of people who happened to be walking down what at the time was a "pedestrian mall" — a street closed to vehicle traffic.
By the end of the day, we were all exhausted. But it was a good kind of exhaustion. We had managed to run a business for a full day without any catastrophes. I don't remember how much money we made that first day, but I'm sure it wasn't much. Still, the people who took a chance on us seemed to like what they bought, or at least they were too polite to mention it if they didn't.
We're In Business
During the first couple months, more and more people heard about us and stopped by to give us a try. Surprisingly, some of these first customers kept coming back, day after day, sometimes two or three times a day — and many of them never gave up the habit. Early customers such as Charlie, Terry, Bob, and Jim, along with others from nearby law offices and local businesses, were loyal to the very end, even though many other coffee places opened (and closed) downtown in the intervening years. When the first month's sales were enough to pay the rent, we knew we had a pretty good chance of making Four Friends a successful business.
One of our goals was to encourage and support local musicians and artists. We hung paintings and photographs on the walls and scheduled live music for Friday and Saturday nights. We even let a few people organize monthly poetry readings, but they never amounted to much and fizzled out pretty quickly. The music, however, was one of the bright spots of the coffeehouse for us as owners. We not only drew on local talent but also brought in some terrific independent artists from around the country, including Jason Harrod and Brian Funck, Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love, and Over the Rhine.
Passing the Baton
The customers kept coming, we kept selling our stuff, and life was good. But we were also pretty stretched. David was working full time as a prosecutor. Two years into the business, I started teaching English at a nearby high school. Melissa and David had a second child. Sara was still working crazy hours at the coffeehouse. Life seemed to be getting a little too complicated. So, on January 1, 1999, we sold the coffeehouse to Suzi (Borgdorff) Bos, who did a great job of managing the business for the next six years, keeping the original vision alive while introducing her own elements.
During Suzi's tenure at Four Friends, David and Melissa started another successful venture, Wealthy Street Bakery, with their neighbors Jim and Barb McClurg while Sara and I supported them enthusiastically from the sidelines. Then, sometime in 2004, if I have my years straight, the four owners of Wealthy Street Bakery purchased Four Friends back from Suzi.
The End
To its last day, Four Friends was a popular destination for downtown business people, students, and other coffee lovers. Sadly, though, rising costs of food and beverages, along with increases in rent and changes in the terms of their lease, forced the proprietors to enter into a month-to-month deal. When the business next door, a fast-food franchise, approached the landlord about expanding their storefront, the landlord gave Four Friends a month to close up shop.
Sara and I took the kids to Four Friends Coffeehouse yesterday morning for one last latte. Suzi and her family were there, too, as was Amelia Gritter, a former manager who also made the place her own. We reminisced about some of the funnier moments, a few scary encounters, and a whole lot of good times. I sure am going to miss that place. And I have a feeling that I'm not the only one
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