Community Cafe from Community Cafe on Vimeo.
Among the first places Mandy Keyes visited when she moved to St. Petersburg were Café Bohemia and the Globe Coffee Lounge. She loved the Globe’s Caprese sandwich.
“When the Globe closed, there was a void in the community,” Keyes says. “So I said, let’s fill the void, and that’s how the Community Café started.”
That was a year and a half ago. Now Keyes, a professional interior designer, has plans in the works to launch a late-night coffee shop in downtown St. Petersburg that caters to those who used to spend evenings chatting or creating over coffee at the Globe and Café Bohemia (now Everything Dolce).
There’s an IndieGoGo.com campaign underway (it ends Thursday, Aug. 1) to raise funds to secure a location for the Community Café.
“The more we raise, the closer to downtown our location will be,” Keyes says. “I definitely want to stay on Central, though.”
The café will have a membership program (though you won’t be required to join in order to go there) with rewards like free drinks and discounts. Members will also be able to borrow books from the café library.
And the café will have a board comprised of members, with everyone getting a vote when it comes to changes in the menu.
Keyes says she hopes to make the Community Cafe a “home away from home” for her customers.
