Paper & Cup – More than just a book store

 

Who doesn’t like a good read, a mystery, romance or adventure story, and a fresh cup of java?

Brandi O’Neill spent 18 years as an interior designer and flight attendant before moving to Kimberley for a change of lifestyle. She always wanted to open a retail store, so she looked around town noticing there was “nothing open late where you can gather hang out have a coffee and read.”

“Everyone is missing a connection and they really want to get back to their roots. Our roots are in communities, family and connection, and that’s what I wanted to create.” These words sum up O’Neill’s business philosophy.

She took her passion for reading and love of coffee combined the two and built Paper and Cup.

Her original idea was to focus on a boutique book store, but decided she needed to “balance revenue streams.” She expanded the book store idea to include a cafe and events. “A good marriage of different concepts instead of just a book store,” O’Neill said.

POS-n-go is a perfect fit for the marriage with extensive inventory and customer management features for the book store and powerful seat based ordering, modifiers and upcharges for the cafe, all combined in the easiest tablet interface for zero staff training.

The cafe serves coffee from Rooftop Coffee Roasters of Fernie. “I’m so happy to have their product because they are local.” She also likes their family run business approach which includes “single origin beans.” In that spirit, “They partner with families over-seas [in South America]” to provide the coffee beans.

O’Neill thinks paper books will be around for a long time. “I feel that books are still something people want. They like to hold something tangible in their hands instead of on a device.”

The other aspect of the store O’Neill gets excited about are the events held in the store. “I do lots of events.” Two great events are scheduled for September.

Sept. 28th, Peka Kucha night – doors 6pm, artistic presentations at 7pm. The evenings theme, “20 images in 20 seconds.” Talk about speed art.

Next day, Sept. 29th, a pasta making workshop with Cristina Borgogelli from Tonerelli's Pasta, 6 – 9pm.

O’Neill will start a Monthly Book Club. Oct. 22nd is the first meeting that includes lively discussion about Katerina by James Frey, snacks and bevys.

If that’s not your cup of coffee, then try out Open Mic. O’Neill wants all musicians, poets, spoken word performers, comedians and emerging artists to contact her and arrange a performance.

Find event details and tickets on the secure web site paperandcup.ca, or send an email to info@paperandcup.ca. Better yet, get on the mailing list and never miss an event.

Wow! Books, coffee and opportunities to connect with folks from the community. All at Paper and Cup on the Platzl in Kimberley. Open daily 10am to 9pm.

(In the photo, Amber whose been at the Cafe from the beginning.)