At Story Coffee, we pride ourselves on doing things a little differently. When we opened our first location in a tiny house in Acacia Park we were running against the grain on a lot of things. Our size is obviously smaller than most, but we also wanted to create a little space where people would be able to connect with one another. Have a moment of sophistication and excellence. Maybe be a little inspired to simplicity or even make a new friend.

Well, we’ve watched this happen hundreds of times over the past [at the time of this writing] ten years, and it’s one of our favorite things about serving coffee in this amazing city, and in this amazing context. We don’t do sandwiches or paninis or smoothies. And maybe we don’t have room for a ton of people (unless you count our park which seats something like 1,000 people if you don’t mind sitting on grass). We don’t have free WiFi or a place to plug in your computer. But we do what we do and we try to do it with simplicity, excellence and love.

Which brings us to location number 2! In 2022 our friends at Echo Architecture bought a cool old building in Old Colorado City and dreamed of it being a place for the community to gather. They called it The Sluice, which is a nod to the mining history here, and refers to the aspect of gold mining that separates the gold from the dirt. They created the tagline Seek Beauty, Stay Golden and designed shared spaces where makers and creators could work to sift through the dirt of society (don’t act like you don’t know there IS some!) and bring forth works of beauty to literally make the world a better place. Of course they wanted caffeine to fuel the work and that’s where Story Coffee came in. We were delighted to throw in with them, and create as welcoming a space as we could dream up, focusing - as always - on simplicity and connection. Our footprint in the Sluice Building is just 460 feet. You’ll recognize it as the room where the coffee bar is. We hadn’t planned on having free WiFi or computer outlets, for the reasons listed above. Just a simple place for people to grab a coffee and maybe connect with a friend (or meet a new one!).

But then something crazy happened (this is where it gets interesting!). The building owners designed the big hallway next to us to be a community space. They put in this huge bank of bleachers and built a little stage area where the building could host small concerts or public talks or whatever. They put outlets in the walls right out there where anyone could use them and provided free public WiFi. What a cool space! And since they don’t use it all the time, they decided to design the space where Story Coffee customers could have access to that space almost any time we’re open! And then they collaborated with us to provide a 40 ft. deck at the front of the building which Story Coffee customers get to use all the time. Such generosity!

And that is how we ended up with the space you see today. One with free public WiFi, 4 public restrooms, inside and outside space for dozens of people, and even a few outlets for powering your devices.

However (and I know you saw this coming), as we at Story Coffee have grown, our customers have understandably begun to take some liberties with this shared space, and sometimes have used it in ways that it was not intended, and in ways that just don’t work for everyone. And we know you want to be a part of this community in a way that does work for everyone, so it is in that spirit that we offer some thoughts about how to best accomplish that.

OK, enough teasing. You ready? Great, here’s the list:

When possible, save the larger tables for larger parties. Hey, we get it. Those huge tables make a great desk for all your stuff. But in order to create space for everyone, we try to save those for parties of 2 or more.
A good rule of thumb is that a purchase at the coffee shop earns you 1 hour at a table. If you want to stay another hour, then just make another purchase. This is an honor system, and nobody’s got a timer on you. But in order to be a space that works for everyone, we can’t have people “officing” here for hours based on a $4 purchase.
The bleachers are not a playground. You’re not gonna believe this but sometimes people just let their kids go nuts on those things. But to the folks using that conference room around the corner or working in the offices nearby it sounds like a herd of elephants dancing on the roof.

And that’s it! Just a few considerations from us to our customers, who we have experienced to be some of the most thoughtful, considerate, and generous people around. We think you probably get it, and thank you in advance for your help. But if you do have any questions or perspectives you’d like us to hear, we’d love to hear from you. You can send an email to info@storycoffeecompany.com and we’ll respond as quickly as possible.

In pursuit of simplicity and beauty…

Your friends at Story Coffee Company