An old brick service station on the southern edge of the Fan is being reborn as a coffee shop and roasting company.
Local owner Noelle Archibald says the Lamplighter Roasting Company should be open next week. The new business is located at 116. S. Addison St., one block south of Cary Street.
Earlier this week BizSense wrote about a new coffee shop in the Museum District that roasts coffee beans.
Lamplighter, too, is equipped with its own roaster. Archibald said the shop will roast green coffee and deliver beans by the pound by bicycle to homes and businesses throughout the city.
A one-time delivery of coffee beans will cost $12, said Archibald, but the shop is offering subscriptions where the cost drops to $10 a pound if you pay in advance for weekly deliveries. Wholesale prices are also available to businesses, and coffee beans will be delivered in reusable 5-gallon buckets. Archibald said she has already sold a few subscriptions, which has helped fund the venture.
In an increasingly common sign of the times for entrepreneurs, Archibald said she has embraced bartering as a way to keep start-up costs low.
“We are paying our accountant in beans, and some of the tradesmen are being paid partly in beans,” said Archibald.
Another sign of the times: Archibald said she received more than 75 applications after putting up an ad on Craigslist to find a couple of people to help out at the shop.
Archibald has partnered with roaster Jennifer Rawlings, who was previously the co-owner of 17.5 Ethos Café in Shockoe Bottom. That coffee shop was forced out of business by the flooding caused by tropical storm Gaston after only being open for a couple of months. Rawlings said the roaster can produce $25,000 worth of wholesale coffee a month.
Although the new shop is located off of the main street in a part of the neighborhood where there are a couple of boarded-up houses and the only other business presence is a salon, it is located one block away from the soon-to-be-vacated GRTC garage. The large tract of property in the Fan will likely see mixed-use development in the future.
Lamplighter is the latest addition to the list of local coffee roasting companies, which includes the Black Hand Coffee Company, Blanchard’s and Rostov’s.
Al Harris a BizSense reporter. He starts his day by brewing a fresh pot of coffee. Please send news tips to Al@richmondbizsense.com.
I think a lot of smaller businesses will use bartering during the start-up phase, I know a lot of people that have bartered in the past. Recently I started bartering my marketing skills for accounting skills on http://barterquest.com both I and the accountant get something out of it, so I really see it as a win-win situation for everyone.
Good to see Jennifer is back in the coffee business!
I’m not hating on them and I don’t want to wish any ill will on this place…but opening a coffee roasting place right around the corner from Rostov’s, an already established and very succesful coffee roasting place??? Sounds really, really risky to me. Coffee-by-bike is a nice marketing point but it’s going to be hard to take away any significant market share, especially in that neighborhood. Why didn’t they try a location downtown with hundreds of businesses around it that might want a change in their in-office coffee service? Plus, the bike delivery aspect would make more sense downtown. Nonetheless, good luck guys.
Check out Lamplighter’s website. They’re serving food, have outdoor seating, and hope to get an ABC license in the future. I’ve already signed up on the subscription service for cold beer delivered to me while pushing the stroller around Byrd Park’s lakes. Looking forward to seeing Lamplighter get their footing. Hopefully, people will veer off of their usual paths to find the place.
Just as a counter to your post, Kent: Not to dis Rostov’s, but coffee roasts vary and not everyone likes the same roasts. I personally am not a huge fan of Rostov’s coffee, which is inconvenient for me because the coffee shop closest to my home serves it. I go out of my way to get Blanchard’s because I prefer their roasts. I’m glad to see this city rates so many independent roasters and hope they all have continued success. Looking forward to trying Lamplighter’s too!
I love the idea of the coffee being delivered by bicycle. too cool.
The good folks at Lamplighter are already making their civic mark in Richmond. Zach Archibald prepared delicious pancake batter-enough for 642 pancakes- and donated it to the PANCAKE HEAVEN Fundraiser for the Greater Fulton Hill Neighborhood Resource Center’s Montessori program. Thank you Zach, Noelle and Jen for your amazing contribution of time, talent and resources.