The newest addition to the burgeoning Yemeni coffeehouse scene may be part of a chain, but it’s also a family business, locally owned and operated.
Shibam Coffee Co., in the ground floor retail space of the Brady on S. Main, is the first hospitality venture for accountant Amjed Oudeif and his father and brother. The Ypsilanti Twp. family is partnering on the franchise of the Dearborn-based parent company, which now has nineteen stores, with ten more in the works.
“We started this place from scratch, literally, in terms of construction, plumbing, everything,” Oudeif says. Atmosphere matters for these third-space destinations, so they’ve made some unique choices in the build-out, including wavy vertical beams spaced across the ceiling. “We did this above and beyond,” he says.
Quality and service are the other key elements he believes will help them stand out. Shibam, named for the ancient walled city known for its mud brick high-rises, is “one of the best that is out there,” he says, supplying them with Yemeni-grown organic coffee, along with teas and pastry offerings.
Oudeif’s grandfather emigrated from Yemen in the early 1950s, and the coffee and tea culture remains strong in the family, which will manage the store and its crew of about fifteen. They’re open morning to night seven days a week, though experience will tell what operating hours will work best in the long term.
“It’s a place that anyone can come,” he says. “It’s for everyone.”
Shibam Coffee Co., 414 S. Main, ste. 100. (734) 545–7500. Daily 9 a.m.–9 p.m. shibamcoffee.com
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