news-record.com

Luke Whitten had planned to open his shop, Greensborough Coffee (274-1308) at 400 State St. in Greensboro, for the first time last Sunday. After all, some parishioners from nearby St. Pius X Catholic Church and residents in the neighborhood have asked if opening the coffee shop on Sunday was a possibility. So Whitten decided to test the waters. What he didn’t foresee was that the shop would end up hosting several vendors from the Greensboro Farmers’ Curb Market.

“There were a lot of good people. It was a good time,” Whitten says.

The impromptu Sunday morning market, which came to be called the Fair Weather Market, was organized by Greensboro Farmers’ Curb Market advocates Donna Meyers and Mary Hess. The Curb Market is run by the City of Greensboro and typically opens on Wednesday and Saturday. But the city had closed the market for the second Saturday in a row, citing bad weather. That left many vendors, and just as many patrons, disgruntled. So Meyers, who is a regular customer of Greensborough Coffee, approached Whitten on the idea. He was receptive. Then Meyers rallied some vendors and spread the word via Facebook and on Sunday the coffee shop was filled with baked goods from Simple Kneads, cheese from Goat Lady Dairy and eggs from Wards Farm.

“There were about 40 to 50 customers,” Whitten says. “It was exciting to see so many new faces.”

Good news for the coffee shop since a lot of people don’t realize the former Carolina Coffee Shop experienced a transition last year when Whitten took over the lease and changed the name to Greensborough Coffee.

Whitten says he’ll continue to open the coffee shop from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sundays.