Valley Bookseller, Daily Grind: make perfect duo
November 17, 2014
Moving from the south end to the north end of Downtown Stillwater, The Daily Grind makes its’ first move to the back of Valley Bookseller.
The Daily Grind has been around since 1992 in the strip mall across from the Freight House. The current owner, Megan and Tim Palm, have owned it for more than ten years. After 23 years, The Daily Grind was not given a lease renewal. The landlord of their building and Megan often do not see eye to eye.
December of 2013, Palm was informed they were not given an option to renew the lease. There was a bit of panic in which they did not know if they were going to move or just close down in the following December.
“We wanted to stay downtown and to be honest, we did not know if we were going to exist past December. There are not that many spaces available downtown. It takes a good long time to figure out what you want and where to go. We did not know where we were going to go for awhile, Molly and Dan, the owners of the Valley Book Seller, are good friends of ours. They know the history of the grind and so they offered us the space in the back of their store. We are hoping to get in early december because we have to be out of the current space on dec. 31st; there is no wiggle room at all”, said Palm
After The Grind found out they had a space to move into, they started a fundraiser on “Kickstarer” to fund the cities fees of moving, which are 8,100 and the cost of the build out which ranges from $50 to $70 thousand. Their goal was to get twenty thousand dollars in 30 days. They achieved their goal and more.
“I was in a panic, I was not ready financially. I am not a wealthy individual, I bought it when I was 23 years old with nobody else, Tim is now full owner but we still do not make that much money. A lot of love here, good people want to help, and we are surrounded by them. We had 30 days of craziness to reach 20,000. I am beyond thankful everyone that donated. It gave us a room to breathe, we asked for 20,000 and we got 23,000”, said Palm.
The move is going to being The Grind to a whole new setting and feel. The new space is more of a “shiny penny”. The current setting is more of a cozy living room, the other one is going to be really nice, nicer than anyone would have expected.
“I’m excited because I’m really pumped for a dishwasher, but there is something about the place we are in that’s really cozy and I love it there. Especially since The Daily Grind has been there for so long,” said current employee, junior Eve Thompson.
Moving to different ends of the town potentially could bring in a different crowd. In the design, Megan and Tim tried to figure out certain tables that fit certain groups and chairs that people having been sitting in for 23 years. They have a group of men that come in every morning and sit in the leather chairs, so those chairs are going over. Even if it would be smarter for them to put in more tables, they want to keep the same feeling over there. They are sure it is going to be a weird change, even though it is still ‘Megan and Tim and The Daily Grind crew’ serving coffee.
“I think it will be a nice change, and it will be great to have a parking lot. Also, the proximity to Valley Booksellers will be an interesting change. I think the true fans of the daily grind will definitely still come in. It’s not like it’s moving to Africa! It is just down the street. Hopefully everyone still comes in, plus some new faces will be awesome”, said current employee, Lauren Quickel.
New and exciting things do come from moving buildings. There will be lots of new people traveling in and out; new opportunities for different things.
“I think coffee and books are an awesome pairing, I want to work with the Valley Bookseller and pair coffees to books. Like book clubs, Early Grey tea is like a dark and smokey tea, I want to pair it with a dark and smokey book. Thats the kind of thing I want to do. It is a chance to do more exciting things,” said Palm.
