Starbucks may be the coffee king, but for millennial age consumers, local coffee shops may be a more appealing option.
Local coffee connoisseurs tend to be younger, with the largest demographic of customers between ages 18-24, according to the Small Business Development Center.
Lattes are a big coffeehouse seller year around. Sarah Self-Walbrick/The Hub@TTU
This is definitely true for local coffee shop, Sugar Brown’s. Located across the street from Lubbock High School on 19th Street, Jaimie Craycraft, a manager at the shop, said college students are its most frequent visitors.
“We have a lot of people that ask us if we have a lot of high school kids coming in,” Craycraft said. “But we really don’t. I think they don’t really know what we are, so they kind of stay away.”
Sugar Brown’s has been a beloved coffeehouse in Lubbock for years. Originally located on 50th Street, the shop was frequented by high school and college students alike. After closing for a few years, it reopened under new ownership at the new location last year.
While this will be its first fall back-to-school season, Craycraft said they have had a successful first year and are excited to welcome new and returning Red Raiders. When students started moving back to town earlier this month, Craycraft said there was a spike in sales.
“We would order (coffee) for every two weeks, but now we’re using it all in one week,” Craycraft said. “So now we have to order a lot more.”
Sundays and Tuesdays are the busiest days at Sugar Brown’s, Craycraft said. Since they are closed on Mondays, he said people have to make sure to get their fix either before or after the shop’s day off, calling it the “Chick-fil-a effect.” But he said there are customers working and drinking lattes throughout the week.
Yellow House Coffee, another local coffee shop located on 34th Street, is so busy in the mornings that it added a third barista to its earliest shift.
Yellow House Coffee strives to give their customers the best coffee experience possible. Sarah Self-Walbrick/The Hub@TTU
Garrett Oden, a manager at Yellow House, said it sees the most students in its two-room shop in the afternoon and at night, with more business meetings happening in the morning. He said Saturday is typically its busiest day, with the store packed all day long.
The summer, especially July, was pretty slow with mainly regular customers coming in, so Oden is excited for business to pick back up. He and his staff have been preparing for the rush by working on efficiency, hoping to keep customers happy with their quick service.
“Our weekly coffee order has gone up quite a bit,” Oden said. “We’ve had more team meetings. We’ve been a little more strict about efficiency, and not just being quite so comfortable, just hanging out, from the slow part of the summer.”
Yellow House has been open since 2014 and makes its own syrups for its drinks. The shop prides itself on its high quality, fresh coffee beans. It also hope to create a welcoming, community environment in its coffeehouse.
Other local coffee shops include J&B Coffee Co., Undergrounds Coffee Co. and Ooo La Lattes.
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