Mo’ Joe on Midvale

A new community coffee shop is brewing in a little red house in East Falls. UPDATE 2017: This space has been purchased by a local artist for residential (with possible plans for a ground-floor art gallery). 

First cookies, now coffee? A few weeks after the 4^th Street Cookies announcement, our sleepy business corridor just got another bump, this one caffeinated. Felicite Moorman, the Chair of East Falls Forward, has purchased the “Red House” at 3733 Midvale with a plan to create a community coffee shop. It’ll take a little renovating, but the Little Red Café is on the way.

A local coffee shop has been high on Moorman’s list for years (as has a good bakery — croissants are a must for her in the new cafe). And she wasn’t alone.  Neighborhood polling and feedback at local meetings confirmed that a community coffee shop was at the top of the list for the Falls (followed closely by a grocery store).

“For the last couple of years, we’ve been looking for the right group to come in, to make it happen, but to no avail. But we believe in East Falls, and while I may not be a grocer, I’m a heck of a barista. We’re not going anywhere. Let’s come together as a community and create the community coffee shop we want! And why not double down on our East Falls investments? Know any grocers?”

There’s work to be done, but this is no Stanton Street pipe dream. Felicite and Ryan have plenty of building/renovation experience and, as feisty, nimble tech entrepreneurs, they’re hitting the ground running. Negotiations with a well-known local bakery are underway, plans to redesign the cafe’s interior are in place, and they’ve already gotten their first customer! Felicite has issued a gift certificate to John McMahon of Midvale Ave.

Get in Here!
As a community project, volunteers are encouraged, as are suggestions for making the place better. For all the details, and to add your two cents, plan on attending the next EFF meeting.

For more about the vision behind the coffee shop, read Felicite’s open letter to East Falls. Stay up-to-date with Little Red Cafe on Facebook.

UPDATE ONE WEEK LATER…