Sara Parker is the kind of person who doesn’t let ideas sit for long without putting them into action. Already accomplished from a long to-do list for the Housatonic Improvement Committee she chairs is the inauguration of the first Housatonic Harvest Festival and long table dinner, bringing Berkshire Busk! to Housatonic for the first time in July, and coordinating a tree-planting project all over town last spring. The committee’s goals for the near future include more such community programming, along with town improvement planning, a visioning session for the park, a public paddle on the Housatonic River, robust advocacy for investment in local infrastructure, and a virtual walking tour of historic Housatonic sites.
Now, or rather soon, on top of those ambitious aims she is opening a coffee shop and bookstore in downtown Housatonic on the first floor of 137 Front Street. She’ll be renting the space from the building’s owners, the Center for Peace through Culture, which will continue to offer separate programming in the upstairs space. The building has been long-known in town as prolific artist Deb Koffman’s studio, and her always-welcome reminder sign, “It’s Ok to Pause,” is till hung up outside. (Koffman passed away in 2021.)
The new business, to be called Evangeline Coffee and Books after Parker’s middle name, will combine an espresso bar with a curated bookstore stocked with roughly 4,000 titles that will include new releases, New York Times bestsellers, fiction, nonfiction, art and nature. (Robert McFarlane’s Underland is her favorite book.) The shop will also carry stationery and gift items. Coffee will come from Partners Coffee, a Brooklyn-based roaster Parker selected after running a blind community taste test earlier this year, and will be served from the Little Gallery, located to the right of the main room.
The layout will divide that central space into the coffee and lounge area up front, with a “wall of books” leading back to the rear section, which will continue to serve as an event space and will feature author talks and other community gatherings.
As for the esthetic Parker is aiming for, expect color and character. "Something that I feel shops and stores are missing today,” she explains, “is that inspiration you got when you walked into a library or a bookstore as a kid.” So Evangeline, “will have garlands and stars on strings — a place where you feel like you've gone on a mini vacation."
She’s working on a logo with Housatonic’s own family-owned web design business T Square Design, and it’s expected to be finalized soon. In the meantime, you can start following the start-up today on Evangeline Coffee and Books on Instagram.
Although some minor renovations and permits are necessary to make the space ready for primetime, in typically ambitious fashion Sara Parker says she hopes the shop will be open in late October or November, and expects to employ a manager along with baristas. Parker, who’s a full-time business strategist and researcher in her professional life, is also planning to work some hours on-site herself.
So, to recap:
What? Evangeline Coffee and Books
Where? 137 Front Street, Housatonic
When? Later this fall
Why? Because, says Sara Parker, “I want everybody to walk in and feel like they’re in my living room, like it’s the place where everybody knows your name.”
I can’t wait!
Perfectly Berkshire ! This is why people love this area! Wishing Evangeline Coffee all the best!