Court Street Coffee finds new home and partnership in Seguin
19 Aug 2020
Small Business, news, Downtown
Felicia Frazar The Seguin Gazette
The smell of roasted coffee beans wafts from the doors of The Aumont as guests enter the building.
Hope and JD Rogers — Court Street Coffee Shop’s “coffee gurus,” as the business’ owner Heather Felty refers to them — make work of the espresso machine and take orders as customers steadily stream in the door.
It’s a new home for the cafe, but a familiar business for The Aumont, 301 N. Austin St., Felty said.
“This building is amazing, the architecture, the history,” she said. “The funny thing is where the bar is today, that was a coffee shop. It was known for being and advertised as air-conditioned. One of the things is we are really bringing the coffee shop home. This is where it kind of started. This was the original coffee shop in town. We’re kind of bringing it back home; we’re bringing that feel here for people to come and sit down.”
The partnership between Felty and owners of The Aumont Apartments and Offices, Greg and Amy Woodall, took about two years to come to fruition.
The decision to move wasn’t solely made on the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdowns that ensued, but it did push the envelope.
“With COVID, all of the negatives aside, the positive was the push to bring this together. Failure wasn’t an option,” Greg said. “Having said that, this was a natural fit because Heather can run her business during the daytime, and we can continue to run our business during the evening.”
In the beginning, both Court Street Coffee Shop and 1916 Bar and Bistro struggled to stay open. Then as the shutdown occurred, both had to close their doors.
While they were both able to open back up to limited capacity, the bar and bistro’s doors were shuttered once again, and Felty found it increasingly difficult to keep her business going.
“In chatting with Greg, we were both struggling, especially with him being a bar and not being able to open,” she said. “He just started talking about coming together during this time.”
Felty purchased the coffee shop from Mary Jo Langford in 2018 and strived to keep the foundation that Langford built, creating a hub for all things Seguin.
“She wanted to sell, I sure did not want somebody to change the beautiful coffee shop she built and the beautiful community environment, that she built,” Felty said. “I always wanted to enhance what she had with the arts and the home feel. One of our great customers named us ‘Seguin’s Living Room,’ and it really feels like that.”
The decision to move wasn’t easy, as Felty was attached to her previous space. But once inside the Aumont, Felty said she was home.
“It is great because this place has everything. I’ve made this my one-stop-shop,” she said, referring to her office on the top floor.
In the walls of The Aumont, Felty can do that and more, and she continues to grow the business.
A full kitchen in the building opens up more possibilities for the coffee shop to serve up a more extensive menu.
Sharing 1916 Bar & Bistro’s kitchen manager Kevin Chesworth, Felty is hopeful for a few crossover items to serve during lunch and grow the shop’s catering business.
The Woodalls incorporated a kitchen into the building to expand their evening offerings, Greg said.
The goal is to open the bistro as an evening restaurant eventually. A process the Woodalls have already started by petitioning the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to reclassify 1916 Bar & Bistro as a restaurant.
The move into the new location also opened up more seating options for the coffee shop. Visitors can enjoy their beverage in the mornings or late afternoon in The Aumont’s lobby, the Rose Room, the mezzanine, outdoor patio and front porch patio.
“We have amazing coffee, but we’re the place where people want to come and sit down,” Felty said. “During the pandemic, this is awesome because there is so much space. It allows us to give people the space they need; it allows for the flow, and the feel we had before.”
Felty and the Woodalls are looking forward to the future of when both businesses are open.
“Once we get the bar open and going, we’re really excited about that,” Felty said. “We have a shared kitchen, a shared environment, and the goal is to become the full dinning, the full package. That’s what we want to be; we want to be the spot in Seguin, especially in the downtown.”
In addition to the 1916 Bar & Bistro and Court Street Coffee Shop, The Aumont has apartments and office space.
The trio agrees that as more people filter into The Aumont, whether for a cup of coffee, to go home or to work, the building has come to life.
“It needed something more,” Amy said. “This building should be part of the community. It is such a historic building, and everybody should be able to use it in some way and appreciate it in some way. I think anything that can bring people into where they can socialize and enjoy the building is just better for everybody.”
Greg, who spends most of his mornings and afternoons at The Aumont, said the change in atmosphere is day and night.
“I spend most of my days here, and it would be dead,” he said. “Now, what I love about it, there is a constant trickle coming in now. People are seeing the building for the first time because they’re not a drinker, but now they’re coming in to get coffee or a pastry. This just makes this building more alive.”
A name change for the coffee shop is possible in the future, but for now, Felty invites everyone to come out and enjoy the “Aumont Experience.”
Felicia Frazar is the managing editor of the Seguin Gazette. You can e-mail her at felicia.frazar@seguingazette.com
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