Ever wondered what tea-infused cocktail mixers from Brooklyn or Sacramento ghost pepper salt would taste like? How about the smell of Parisian home fragrances?
Urban Bungalow and its next-door neighbor, the 6-year-old Cleanse Apothecary, allow shoppers checking out their new joint venture, Bungalow Coffee, to explore these curated specialty products for themselves — all while sipping.
Earlier this year, Urban Bungalow, which specializes in everyday essentials, emerged where Christopher Wayne Home previously operated at 6500 N. Florida Ave. Owner David Hansen's former business partner, Damon Christopher, shifted his focus with Christopher Wayne to his home in Tennessee. Hansen, a second-generation Seminole Heightser, has since morphed the shop to better serve his cadre of loyal clients in the Heights and Ybor City.
“They kind of guided us to what we should be carrying. It’s been a really great thing to see and to feel like you’re doing something right,” Hansen says.
Alongside home accessories, gift-ables and one-of-a-kind furniture meant for smaller digs, Urban Bungalow now offers a wide selection of gourmet food and drink products. As to not compete with other nearby businesses selling the wares of local artisans, the shop doesn’t showcase many Tampa Bay-made products. But its shelves are still stocked with items from local and family- or friend-owned companies across the country — several of which, according to Hansen, were recommended by customers.
Here, shoppers will find everything from Santa Fe’s spicy Hatchup Katchup to bacon pickles by Portland-based Unbound Pickling. A few bars in the area, which Hansen says have asked to remain anonymous, are taking advantage of cocktail mixers like Charleston’s Bittermilk, and Urban Bungalow has even teamed up with one purveyor, Urban Accents of Chicago, to go "private label" with its own line of barbecue sauce and jam.
“With the addition of the food items, you’re really getting a lifetime client. They may come in and buy a couch, but if we were just a furniture store, how many times do you buy a couch a year?” he says. “We get that client that we see more than once a year or once a month. We see some every day.”
Hansen and Greg Curtis of Cleanse — whose stores are adjoined from the inside, creating a sort of shopping synergy — knew they wanted to maintain a coffee component at Urban Bungalow after The Blind Tiger decided to relocate to a larger property further south. So, they’re doing it themselves in a way that complements their retail mix of out-of-towners.
Bungalow Coffee, which had its soft opening last Thursday, serves a menu of espresso-based drinks and other beverages like cold brew using a Chicago coffee scene staple: Intelligentsia Coffee. Curtis — who lived in the Windy City for 11 years with his partner Terry and also worked as a Starbucks store manager before opening his bath, body and skin care shop that’s become a Seminole Heights mainstay — says he loves Intelligentsia because “they actually buy from the coffee farmers and build relationships with them to where they pay for the coffee above fair-trade prices.” (This food editor tried a cup, and it’s stellar.)
The coffee bar also features local baked goods (think pumpkin bars and white chocolate lemon bars) and a lineup of teas, including the iced tea-and-lemonade and Vanilla Solstice Tea Latte. The blends come from Massachusetts’s luxury tea brand Tea Forté, the “House Purveyor” of teas for the James Beard House. For those who want to enjoy the whole beans or blends at home, they’re available for purchase, and different specialty coffee roasters will be showcased quarterly to shake things up.
A grand opening date hasn't been set, but Curtis and Hansen plan to hold a friends-and-family unveiling in conjunction with the openings of a couple more new businesses in the neighborhood. They’re looking to make it one big street party.
“We’re trying to encourage people to hang out here,” Hansen says. “We want you to treat it like your living room.”
Bungalow Coffee operates 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
This article appears in Sep 15-22, 2016.