Have you been to The Coffee Shop? No, not Tunnel — Williamstown’s newest spot for a caffeinated drink and Sunday study session opened this June on Water Street, next to Provisions. While the café is not as central as other options, it compensates with the sheer amount of space available to attendees looking for a study spot.
“We have a lot more room,” Noah Stout, general manager of The Coffee Shop, told the Record. “You can be a little more spread out, and that’s crucial — being able to have your own individualistic space to do what you need to do.”
The Shop has personality and an evident focus on comfort. Upon entering the café, customers walk past a large, beckoning sign shaped like a medieval scroll that reads, “In You Go.” Tables, comfortable chairs, couches, and even barstools are spread throughout the rooms, and the area in front of the Shop serves as a patio and garden with outdoor seating.
The Shop is co-owned by Xtina Parks, who also owns ROAM Gallery next door, and Peter MacGillivray, who owns the café’s other neighbor, Provisions. The two used the resources of their existing businesses in crafting the menu and space. “The sandwiches that we sell here, everything that’s on them can be bought at Provisions, and then a lot of the art can be bought at ROAM,” Stout said. “All of the coffee cups that we use are made in South Africa — hand painted, handcrafted.”
“The Venn diagram of [Parks and MacGillivray] would be this coffee shop,” Stout said.
Parks, for her part, said she loves the community that the Shop brings to Water Street. “I love to see people and children and dogs … coming in and using the space,” she said.
Parks, MacGillivray, and their team have been focusing on refining their service and product. In its early days, the Shop saw some management turnover, with Stout replacing the first manager. “It happened, really, because our mission statement is to serve the best dang coffee on Earth,” Stout said. “A lot of people just weren’t fully experienced in the world of coffee. It helped a lot that I had managed a cafe before.”
Under Stout, the Shop’s staff is a group of friendly baristas in steampunk aprons. Among their ranks are several students from the College. Stout cited an eagerness to help College students afford to stay in Town year-round. “[For] people who love the Town and love the community enough to want to stay in it, we want to be a place that they can find work and be able to do that,” he said.
In general, Stout expressed a desire for the new business to connect the Town and the College. “I mean, we look at our staff and it reflects what we want out of the community,” he said. “And I think that it’s a very neglected bridge of the community to the college kids. I’d say that my favorite thing is that we are really a place for everyone.”
The Shop, so far, seems to be popular with its student visitors. Lindsay Gadsden ’27 said that she loves its vibe, coffee, and location.
Elise Dzialo ’27, an employee at the Shop, noted that their job is a great way to meet people in the community outside the College.
The Shop’s kitchen isn’t yet running at full steam. In fact, the business hasn’t (officially) even opened yet, according to Stout. “This has all been a soft launch,” he said. “We haven’t had a grand opening.” He said that the bar and kitchen will be open in a couple of months. “It’s going to eventually be a full swing, one-stop shop.”
Parks mentioned that the last few months have been busy with smoothing wrinkles. “There is a little bit of knocking about when you start a new business,” she said. “You want everybody to be happy, and you want to satisfy customers, and you want to make sure it’s the best working environment for your employees.”
Food at the Shop will benefit from the connections and caliber of Provisions’ stock. “A lot of the select cheeses and stuff that they have over there, we’ll also have here,” Stout said. “Fresh, bright, vibrant food. We want our food to reflect our environment.”
In addition to its planned sandwiches and salads, the Shop makes its own pastries in-house.
Stout said that they’ve found a new Town niche: grab-and-go. “That’s [one] thing that isn’t really in Williamstown,” he said. “You can’t just walk into a place, grab something, pay for it, and leave, and we want to provide that.”
You can’t have The Coffee Shop without coffee, and Stout emphasized the importance of crafting the perfect cup. “The coffee that Xtina Parks has worked very hard on finding … is coming from really underprivileged and under-utilized villages that get the beans and harvest them,” Stout said.
Stout and Parks said that the Shop orders all of its coffee through Café Kreyol, a coffee supplier that mostly focuses on unconventionally sourced, responsible blends. “We have a coffee here, that [for] every kilo sold, the money from that goes to an orangutan conservation sanctuary,” Stout said, noting that it’s his favorite one.
He added that there is something for everyone. “Do you like a coffee that doesn’t taste like coffee? We’ve got that coffee,” he said. “We have the motor oil coffee, we have the coal-miner coffee, but we also have, you know, the pumpkin spice coffee.”
Stout’s next priority is maintaining quality amid the Shop’s rapid growth. “I think that the obstacle is going to be keeping up with the pace that keeps increasing,” he said, before laughing. “It’s a good problem to have.”
