The Espresso Bar upstairs in Literati Bookstore is now Literati Coffee–owned by Literati’s Mike and Hilary Gustafson. They’ve promoted longtime barista Jess Harmon to manager, updated some of the equipment, and are working on creating more space for customers.
According to the Gustafsons, former Espresso Bar owner Sandy Bledsoe came to them over the summer about a change of ownership following mutual worries about the shared space. The Espresso Bar moved to Literati in the fall of 2014 from its original home on Braun Court and had been functioning as a joint coffee shop and bookstore event space for around two years. “It was confusing for many customers to come into one building that had different names for the different businesses,” Mike says. “People thought the whole upstairs was the Espresso Bar. Some people didn’t know we had books up there, some people didn’t know we had events up there.” They remain on good terms with Bledsoe–the night before we talked, he had been back at Literati Coffee to judge a “Latte Art Throwdown.”
Literati Coffee, 204 S. Fourth Ave, 531-8537. Mon.-Thurs. 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 9 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. literaticoffee.com
