A NEW coffee shop has opened in Kingswinford.
Councillor Shaz Saleem was invited to 'cut the ribbon' at The Lounge Coffee Shop which opened its doors to customers on Saturday September 4.
Based inside the Co-op supermarket in Market Street, the new cafe has been opened by Dave Cowley and Carole Price who ran a tearoom in Stone.
They decided to close the venture in Stone and look for a busier, new location after the pandemic.
Dave said: "We were very sad to let it go but it wasn't making money. We'd built it up over three years but footfall in Stone went very, very quiet."
He and Carole have brought their star baker Andrea Wood with them and they hope to offer more home-cooked food including cakes, soups and breakfast sandwiches in the 65-seater cafe which has undergone a refurbishment.
The space was previously a Costa Coffee franchise but it had not been used as a coffee shop since the Covid-19 pandemic forced the closure of supermarket cafes around the country.
Dave told how three new jobs have been created with the opening of the new venture and he said: "We are working in partnership with the Co-op to run the coffee shop as an independent company but to enhance the shopping experience to its customers by offering tea, coffee, cakes and home-cooked food.
"The first day went very well with a steady stream of customers enjoying barista coffees, variety of teas, on-site baked cakes and light lunches - with many people commenting on our star baker and coffee shop manager Andrea Wood's fantastic cakes."
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