Local & State Headlines

Brown Bean to add second spot

• A downtown Albany coffee shop plans to open an additional location in February.

Holly McCarthy

ALBANY — Coffee lovers rejoice.

The Brown Bean Coffee Co. may be shrinking its Saturday hours, but the shop is growing.

According to store manager Jim Leaskey, Saturday hours will change this weekend to 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., rather than until 11 p.m. However, the owner plans to open an additional location next to Talbot’s clothing store on Dawson Road in February.

Leaskey said the hours will change because the shop’s weekend traffic of mostly young patrons has lessened due to competition from the northwest side of town.

“We were giving the youth a place to go on the weekends, and parents would give us words of appreciation for that,” Leaskey said. “But there is a new coffee shop on the other side of town, and we see what’s happening. It’s a convenient place for the youth to gather.”

Because so many of Brown Bean’s neighboring businesses have left the downtown area, Leaskey said he would be justified in closing down and relocating. However, he feels perseverance will pay off.

“We do not want to leave,” he said. “We feel like something will be happening someday downtown. If we moved, it would be too expensive to try to get back in.”

Leaskey, who operates the shop for his son, James Leaskey Jr., said he still sees a faithful group of young customers that he refers to as the Bean Bunch.

One of Brown Bean’s loyal customers will no longer frequent the shop, but not because of a new temptation across town.

Ned Shoemaker, 18, is leaving Thursday to begin college life at Georgia Tech.

“I’ve been coming here for two years,” the Albany High School graduate said. “There are a lot of other coffee shops, like Elements and Starbucks, but here I know the employees. They’re hospitable, and plus, I really, really like the drinks.”

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