If you’ve been by Drip Coffee Shop this pandemic, you may have noticed more than coffee and sandwiches on the menu.
“We had to be creative with ideas and ways to help our revenue through COVID,” said Heather Summerlin, who works with Hal Miller to run the shop’s two locations in Glenwood Park and Hapeville. “With the decision to close our dining rooms and switch to to-go orders only, we obviously took a dip in sales overall. We've always had a few random retail items at both stores, but we definitely ramped that up and brought in some really cool things that Hal and I both hand-picked.”
Like most retail businesses, the last 12 months haven’t been easy on Drip. The shop’s first location opened in Glenwood Park back in 2009 under Miller, who had been good friends with Summerlin since the late 1990s.
Summerlin joined the team in 2012 when the Hapeville location opened, leaving a corporate job at Thomson Reuters. In the near decade since, she said the best part of the job has been the regulars she’s gotten to know.
“I have regular customers that I consider friends and have met many interesting people that I would have otherwise never had the opportunity to,” Summerlin said. “Both Hal and I are proud to have a business that contributes to the revitalization of downtown Hapeville and have been delighted to see the progress through the years.”
That progress may have taken a bit of a detour in March 2020. Drip mandated masks early on and closed dining rooms that month.
“We have had to learn new definitions of flexibility, as have our customers, and I can't thank them enough for continuing to support us in spite of these restrictions,” she said.
Enter the hand-picked extras, which has been a trend across the country for places like coffee shops and restaurants.
And Summerlin’s favorite unexpected merchandise?
“We really try to seek out interesting small companies to work with, and a lot of our stuff is regional and from women-owned businesses,” she said. “I'd probably say right now my favorite thing we sell is the bitters from the Bitter Housewife. It's a female owned company from Oregon. I’ve been using their lime coriander bitters in margaritas at home.”
A Unique Vaccine Site
COVID-19 vaccine appointments are as widely available as ever, with more than 4.2 million doses now administered in Georgia. I was lucky enough to secure my own shot last week at the Delta Flight Museum, which offers both a drive-thru clinic and one actually inside the museum amongst some historical planes, run by CVS and Delta Airlines.
For me, it’s definitely the coolest spot in town to get the shot. Mercedes-Benz Stadium (which has had a pretty busy year as a vaccine site and early voting location!) also offers a unique and unusual place to get medical treatment. The nearby Georgia International Convention Center is also a mass site.
You can find available appointments via Fulton County, GEMA and the search portal at Vaccine Finder.
Yoga Time
Does your mental health need some spring cleaning? Sanskrit Moon Yoga Studio is back with a whole slate of new virtual and in-person classes.
If you’re looking to dip your toes into yoga, the Mindful Flow class is perfect. Designed for all levels, studio founder Chandra Fowler describes is at the right amount of challenging.
“Every body is different and finding your own way to practice is important,” Fowler said. “This class is designed to do just that. We use a flexible framework to structure the class so that we can accommodate students with a variety of experience and fitness levels, all while keeping safety at the forefront.”
Learn more and register now via the studio’s calendar.
More than Cupcakes
One of the things that was easy to miss when I moved to East Point from Athens was a great little homemade cake shop on Milledge Avenue.
So of course I was pumped when Kupcakerie started making full-size cakes last November. The round cakes come in 6 or 8-inch versions, with flavors translated from the bakery’s cupcake rack like Jazzy Jane and Tall, Dark and Handsome.
Not surprisingly, full cakes are a little more work for co-owners Henry and Kscha Adeleye.
“You have to bake the rounds, let them cool completely, stack them, dirty ice them, clean ice them, then decorate,” they said earlier this week. “Cupcakes are baked, cooled, frosted. Boom.”
Kupcakerie’s cakes start at $36 and require three days prep. You can learn more on their website.
Your Next Craft Drink: Hard Cider
What do you think of when you think of Beer Girl Growlers and Bottleshop?
Craft Beer? Rose? Slushies?
Cider may be one of the more overlooked shelfs at the shop but just as fun. Last week the shop hosted its first-ever cider tasting with Atlanta-area startup Atlanta Hard Cider Co.
Based in Marietta, the company released its first cider, Crisp Apple, back in 2017 and has plans to open a cidery in Marietta later this year. Its selection of ciders includes a Rose and Pomegranate version with a summer seasonal, Tiki Haze, that is available at Beer Girl now.
Mark Deno, who founded the company with his wife Liz, stumbled on cider while looking for an alternative to craft beer, which had started to bother his stomach.
“I started homebrewing and took a class at Oregon State University,” Mark Deno said. “When I came home, I said, ‘I think we need to bring this to the south.’ Nobody was doing it in the southeast United States five years ago. A lightbulb went off and that was all she wrote.”