I've written about my Creativity Nights at Five Points Coffee and Spice many times. This café is everything I want my dream shop to be and it's a second-home to many creative souls in Jacksonville. The bad news; it's in trouble!
I couldn't find a word to describe the cozy vibe Five Points Coffee and Spice has (and what I want my dream combination thrift-store-coffee-shop to be) until I read Chris Colin's article on "Going Dutch" in the September/October 2011 issue of Afar. The word is Gezelligheid (Heh-ZELL-ick-hide) and this safe-haven for creatives has it in spades.
Chris described the Dutch Gezelligheid philosophy perfectly:
"Picture the warm yellow light of a small cabin on a winter's night, occupants laughing inside over fondue. Or a mellow afternoon in a little bookstore with your partner, rain drizzling down the windows. Or that funky little neighborhood bar where you and your friends always sink into the same booth and laugh over the same jokes."
Gezelligheid encompasses everything this coffee shop is and everything I'd love my future business to be. We've shared so many laughs in this cozy coffee shop, and we're all sad that the future of Five Points Coffee and Spice is hanging on the outcome of an art auction fundraiser being held this weekend.
If you're in Jacksonville, come out and support this local legend. I've donated framed art prints, it's the least I could do for Alva's shop. He and his crew have tolerated our art-messes, loud laughter, and eccentricities without complaint! (And hell, the art was made right there in the shop!)
So I better see your ass at Five Points Coffee and Spice this Sunday at 2PM. Come buy scrumptious BBQ, the funds will help keep the shop in business and you'll get a sublime meal, tasty as magical unicorn steaks. Win-win!
(If you can't make the event, you can donate to the cause online via this link. I hope to see many of you at the fundraiser, though. Imagine the difference we could make if hundreds of us donated just a small sum each!)
We chatted about this before, so many of us want to start our own business. We want to open antique stores, thrift stores, and ambitious combination coffee-shop-antique-spots. Cozy little Gezelligheid-filled corners of our own. We're just insanely ambitious like that in the comfort of our dreams.
We won't make our own little shop of dreams unless we support our fellow small businesses and learn from them. When we help them, we help ourselves, too.
Five Points Coffee and Spice is a shining example of what a friendly neighborhood business should be, and proof that the community will come together to help your business in its time of need if you're generous, sincere and run your business with heart.
So tell me, what are your small business dreams? I know you have them...
that places looks so cozy!!
ReplyDeleteIt's the coziest spot in town. You wrap it around yourself like a fuzzy comfort blanket. A true second-home!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great place to have coffee, and hang out with friends. Reminds me of an old Dharma and Greg episode (Do you remember the TV show?) where Dharma opened a store front in front of a busy bus stop without any plan of selling anything, and magic happened, it got very busy, people loved the laid back atmosphere and things they were looking for just happened.
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny, Victoria. I was thinking of that show today. I wrote that my life would be like a Dharma and Greg episode if I married an uptight white guy. Except with excessive cursing and penis jokes.
ReplyDeleteANYWHO, I do not remember that episode, but that would be a dream come true for a lot of us who want to own a cozy Gezelligheid-filled spot one day.
FPC&S, I'm pulling for you. Hope your neighborliness comes back to you ten fold at Sunday's fundraiser.
ReplyDeleteDiana: Let's hope so!
ReplyDelete