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12/6/2018
Three new Athens establishments, Lady B’s Fried Chicken, Starbucks and Town’s End Coffee, are experiencing sales increases during their first year of business.
Lady B’s and Town’s End are local, independent businesses in the Athens area. Lady B’s can be found at 19 S. Court St., and Town’s End is along the Hocking River at 9133 Rock Riffle Road.
A new Starbucks was built this summer at 16 W. Union St. The location officially opened on August 17 in time for the new school year.
Co-owner of Town’s End Coffee, Charlotte Norris, said the coffee bar gets a lot of positive feedback and that sales have been steadily increasing over the course of the year. The coffee bar opened its doors in March. Norris attributes this sales increase to multiple factors.
“It’s word of mouth I think is getting out,” Norris said. “People are driving by and seeing that we’re here. They’ve heard from other people.”
Construction over the summer also redirected people toward Town’s End, Norris said. The coffee shop has a presence on Instagram as well.
Lady B’s Fried Chicken took over the former OMG! Rotisserie location on Sept. 28. Since then, Sheldon Andrus, co-owner of Lady B’s, has been pleased with the establishment’s success.
Riley Scott | FOR THE POST
“(The sales have) been awesome,” Andus said. “I think we’ve gotten off to a really good start.”
The new Starbucks location is also off to a “really good” start, assistant manager Tim Clingan said.
“I think that there was a lot of people who were excited that Starbucks came here,” Clingan said.
Among early successes, Lady B’s and Town’s End are both trying to give back to the community. Town’s End has a pay-it-forward program for coffee.
“We have our customers either buy or pay for a small cup of coffee,” Norris said. “And then if somebody is in and wants a cup of coffee, right now we have 33 pay-it-forward coffees.”
Lady B’s donates 5 percent of its daily gross revenue back to charity. All the charities that Lady B’s has donated to have been local, Andus said.
“I don’t want to donate to national charities just because they’re easier to access,” Andus said. “I want to work with actual local charities that people don’t know because they’re the ones that actually need help.”
Donations by Lady B’s have included gift cards, food and other incentives. Lady B’s owners want to increase how much the restaurant donates to local charities in the future. Over winter break, an increase in donations from Lady B’s may be discussed, Andus said.
More customers have been coming to both Town’s End and Lady B’s. For Town’s End, the customer demographic is typically parents, according to a previous Post report.
Lillie Throckmorton, a sophomore studying middle childhood education, had never heard of or been to Town’s End.
“I’m not a big coffee drinker,” Throckmorton said. “But it sounds interesting.”
Lady B’s, however, has gotten more of the student demographic due to its Court Street location. Andus thinks that students are responding to Lady B’s well.
Chris Smith, an undecided freshman, has been to Lady B’s since its opening and enjoyed his experience.
“I really liked it,” Smith said. “I liked the chicken. The breading just fell off the chicken which was really nice.”
For Starbucks, the demographic is widely students as well. This demographic heavily influences when the store is busy.
“In between classes, we get those really busy half hours of students rushing to class,” Clingan said.
Town’s End and Lady B’s are both hoping to expand in the future. Town’s End would like to add a deck or expand the back of the building, according to a previous Post report. Lady B’s is planning on renovating the basement of their restaurant.
“Over Christmas break, we’re actually going to renovate the basement of Lady B’s,” Andus said. “Our idea for the basement of Lady B’s is as some type of event space slash rentable space.”
The space would host open mic nights, parties and community events, Andus hopes.
“We want Lady B’s to be a hub of entertainment and Uptown Athens,” Andus said.
Norris wants Town’s End to better be promoted on the highway. She also wishes it was safer for those on campus to get to the coffee shop.
“I wish that they would make the bridge a bit safer for people to walk across,” Norris said. “I also wish that there would be a safer way for people to get to Bong Hill and hike and ride bikes and all that without traffic being so heavy here, and there’s no place for people to really walk that’s safe.”
Town’s End hopes to host a grand opening event before the coffee shop’s first year ends, Norris said.
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This story is part of a series of specially designed stories that represents some of the best journalism The Post has to offer. Check out the rest of the special projects here.