AT HOME: Stepping Out for a Mid-Morning Snack
Columnist Loraine Page meets the sisters of Agora Downtown Coffee Shop
By Loraine Page
COLUMNIST
I don’t venture out very often into the agora—a Greek word for public meeting place.
But recently I did, literally.
I received an invite to visit with the owners of the Agora Downtown Coffee Shop on Caroline Street. It’s in one of Fredericksburg’s many old buildings—this one was built in 1787. It’s located close to but not at the railroad station.
Locals get coffee there and spend time in the seating areas, chatting or just browsing the books and paintings.
I thought I’d grab a tea and pastry while there, a nice break from assembling my own mid-morning snack.
The highlight of the morning was going to be a chance to speak to the sisters who founded and operate this popular coffee house. It will be 10 years old this year, and it is flourishing.
MJ and Andi were waiting for me on the second floor. Below us, the baristas catered to a non-stop flow of customers, and the bakery churned out goods made from scratch,
The sisters are young. MJ is 34 and Andi is 33. Both are married with children. Yet they take their shop-owner responsibilities seriously.
Andi, who has three children, said, “My husband likes to joke that Agora is our fourth kid. It’s a joke, but the demands are very similar.”
MJ has two. She put off starting a family because of the demands of the business. “We used to joke that we can’t be pregnant at the same,” she said.
The pregnancies didn’t happen at the same time, thankfully. “When one of us has a baby,” said MJ, “that one steps back, and the other one steps up.”
I am curious about Agora’s origin, and they tell me. Both sisters went to college, separately. MJ got a bachelor’s degree in art and a master’s degree in management and specialization of business. Andi got her bachelor’s degree in food science.
They had a joke that in retirement they would open shops next door to each other. One would be for coffee, and the other for baked goods.
When MJ finished school, she wasn’t sure what was next. Her mother suggested combining the bakery and coffee shop ideas into one business.
They named it Agora. The first few months entailed so much work that they laugh now that they ever considered shop ownership as a retirement hobby.
Since they were each working 120 hours a week, they slept upstairs, right where we are talking.
Luckily, their family was—and still is—a tremendous help. Their mother and their three other siblings pitched in wherever they could. These days the help often involves childcare for MJ and Andi. MJ remarked, “We are our village as far as taking care of the children.”
Within five months, the shop was solvent, and the sisters hired staff.
Now they have 23 employees, who are cross trained as baristas and bakers.
The business grew “very organically,” both agree. They sell coffee, tea, sandwiches, bakery items, specialty liquors, books, and handmade items.
A coffee bean roasting business, Agora Roasters—owned by them and their parents, also sprang up. They sell commercially, as well as individually.
Agora’s customer flow also grew organically. MJ’s professor had asked her, “Who is your demographic?” and MJ’s response was “Oh, we’ll just open the doors and see who comes in!”
What happened, she related, is that “Everyone came in. And we loved that.”
“We don’t really have a demographic here,” she mused. “People say it’s very homey, warm, welcoming. But the demographic is actually diverse. A big piece of the pie is our regulars, but we also meet people, other people, who we wouldn’t meet elsewhere.”
The sisters love the social aspect of their coffee shop business. “Our staff is fantastic,” said MJ. “Our customers are fantastic. I mean, that’s the reason we do this—for people.”
Each sister took over the parts of the business they felt more affinity for. MJ is in charge of finances and all that it entails, while Andi is head of recipes, baking, and the barista operations.
It’s hard to imagine where they find the time, but each of the sisters has hobbies. Andi writes, and has a new children’s book coming out soon.
She also manages the books that Agora sells. MJ makes jewelry, which is for sale at the shop. She also makes engraved maps.
And do they always get along at work? “We’ve had tough times, for sure,” said MJ. Andi said, “Learning how to argue productively—it’s incredibly important.”
MJ had a business professor who pulled her aside and revealed that sisters are the most likely to fail when it comes to business partnerships.
She told me that this professor said not only is it most likely to fail, but when it fails, it fails really badly, and families get torn apart.
However, the bright side, the professor said, is that if it works—and it’s only a slim possibility—it’s going to be fantastic.
Andi said, “We made a decision—and you know, it sounds odd to put it this way—but we made a decision to always work things out.”
Also, what helps is they always write things down. So, when arguments occur, one or the other can go and point out that, look, it’s written right here that we agreed on such and such.
Time for me to go. I take the tea and the blueberry muffin I haven’t eaten yet and walk to the door. MJ points to a framed piece of writing on the wall. She says it’s a poem a customer wrote about Andi’s blueberry muffins.
At home, I eat the muffin while I read the poem that MJ has kindly emailed me. I agree with Rick, the poet: “Oh, blueberry muffin,” he writes, “how great thou art.”
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