A little over a year ago Hometown Cafe opened its doors to the Loveland community. The smell of fresh espresso, local goods, friendly smiles from behind the counter, and a place to gather with friends has made it a popular place to hangout alongside the trails.
The heartbeat behind Hometown is one that speaks to their heart for the community. When talking with the owner, Jimmy, I learned that their coffee shop was created to be a homey, comfortable cafe where people can come to hang out and enjoy a good drink and food along the bike trail. Hometown also has a heart for other local vendors and they wanted to be a market where others could sell their items and use their placement on Hometown’s shelves as a stepping stone for them to get their items out to larger retail shops. Something that struck me the most was the vision they had for caterers in our area. Jimmy wanted to offer a commercial kitchen that other caterers can rent. In all of Cincinnati there are only two places who do this and they are both downtown. Jimmy shared, “Again, we want to be a stepping stone for caterers during that phase where they want to launch the business but aren’t established enough to own their own retail space.”
“Being part of the local community and in my hometown was a big reason for the location being so important to me. ”
- Jimmy, Hometown’s Owner
Jimmy’s passion for his work is evident. The purpose behind his shop and the way he joyfully interacts with customers has made Hometown a local favorite.
“My favorite part is talking with the customers and the other small business owners I’ve met through this experience. Being part of the local community and in my hometown was a big reason for the location being so important to me. Seeing people around town that I have met at Hometown has been a great opportunity to get to know the people that live in and around my family.”
Why does he have such a huge heart for Loveland?
He grew up here. “I spent a lot of time as a kid exploring the woods along the Little Miami River. I graduated from LHS in 1999. I met my wife in high school here and both of our parents still live in the area. My wife and I lived in Chicago for several years after we got married and when we moved back to Cincinnati the only non-negotiable criteria for our house hunt was that it needed to be in the Loveland School district.
Now as a business owner in the community I’ve enjoyed meeting so many other people in Loveland. Whether it be our neighbors on the trail, the community members in the Loveland U program I completed, the Chamber members or all the customers who come in, everyone is always friendly, wanting to support local businesses and has an underlying loyalty and pride to be a part of Loveland.”
It is no secret that Loveland is a popular place. However, over the last few weeks, the bustling trails and filled local businesses have been adjusting to a new normal alongside the rest of the world. Right now in the coffee shop you will find chairs stacked on tables, and a lack of chatter inside.
“Things are really uncertain. As the governor announces the various orders we have to consider and reconsider what is the best move. As much as I love Hometown and believe in what we are doing, I don’t want to risk the health of my employees, myself or my family. I believe that we are doing everything we can to keep everyone safe and healthy. But if it comes to a choice between health and staying open, we will definitely choose health.
Before covid-19 we had two caterers who were renting the kitchen on a membership basis and an artist renting office space upstairs. This has impacted their businesses a lot as well. We had a knife sharpener scheduled to come in each Saturday and four community events in the works. So, we’re just pressing pause on a lot of our plans, with the hopes of picking up where we left off as soon as we can.”
While not seeing regulars daily and missing the familiar faces in the cafe is an obvious impact of the novel Coronavirus, there might be underlying implications as well.
“It’s hard to say for certain how much of an impact this will have financially on Hometown. This first week during which we were offering carry out only has been better than expected. We’ve had several customers leave extremely generous tips, people call in to purchase gift certificates and many people have come in to purchase carry out orders. I’m not sure how much of that will change with the stay at home order and how sustainable the carry out only business is. So much of what we do is based on enjoying our community of Loveland. We want to be the place that people meet a friend before/after their time on the bike trail. But, now we don’t really want to be encouraging people to meet their friends. It feels a little awkward to market your business at a time when we really don’t want a crowd. We just want one or two people at a time (standing 6 feet apart).”
As the pandemic has spread, there has been growing support for local businesses. The Loveland community has rallied around their people, and is looking for ways to help keep their local favorites afloat. If that’s you, Jimmy shared some suggestions with me that I think will help direct you.
“First and foremost, we want the least number of Loveland citizens to get the virus as possible. We want people to follow the stay at home order and only go out for essential reasons. The governor included going to parks as one of the essential activities that is allowed, but we want people to be safe on the trail. Be sure to keep a safe distance from others who are on the trail. The healthier everyone stays, the faster this will be over.
In the meantime, continue ordering carry out, purchasing the gift cards, and coming in and following the guidelines for social distancing. Deeper Roots Coffee, the Cincinnati roaster we get our coffee from, is offering free shipping on all orders over $26. Plus, if you type Hometown Cafe into the “additional info” field when checking out they will give us 20% of the sale.”
Now more than ever, we have the opportunity to support small businesses and the families behind them. Let’s join together and look out for one another in this unique season. We are stronger together.
Let’s join together and look out for one another in this unique season. We are stronger together.