Inglebean Coffee House helping to make downtown Millheim a destination
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Business Matters: Downtowns in transition
Across Centre County, downtown areas are in a period of transition. From State College growing up with high-rises to Philipsburg tackling blight, the Centre Daily Times’ annual Business Matters section examines the changes and the way those changes affect our communities.
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The owner of Inglebean Coffee House traded his ritzy New York City lifestyle for Millheim’s reposeful approach on a whim.
Dennis Alan used to live in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he owned a home that overlooked lower Manhattan and worked as a senior manager at Verizon.
He handled celebrity and VIP requests and often ate at some of the city’s best restaurants for free, but that wasn’t where he found his happiness.
“When you’re in New York City, your whole world is indoors. I had a view of lower Manhattan and it was just millions of little cages, like little cement cages for people either to work or live,” Alan said. “Now I have mountains as a view, and it’s a lot nicer and healthier on your soul.”
The Garden State transplant came to Pennsylvania with hopes of carrying on his home state’s nickname. He grew tired of New York, went down a number of self-described rabbit holes and “slowly turned into a hillbilly.”
He rented a Woodward homestead through Airbnb about five years ago, and his hosts were the then-owners of the Inglebean. His next move seemed preordained.
Alan bought the coffee shop in January 2018 and has since operated three doors down from Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks. The two businesses helped revitalize Millheim’s Victorian downtown, Borough Council President Robert Zeigler said.
“With a bunch of small business owners, you’re kind of forming the backbone of a small community,” Zeigler said. “They not only help drive the local economy, but they’re providing local jobs and a destination.”
Inglebean has no shortage of Penns Valley eccentricities.
The shop’s walls are decorated with fishing poles, firearms and art for sale. Paper ads selling firewood are tacked to a board and customers can also pick up a Purple Lizard map as the start of a hiking adventure.
Some of the furniture is handmade by Alan, emblematic of an owner that sets his thermostat to 45 degrees, cuts his own hair and explores every avenue to reduce his bills to zero.
“I didn’t want to work 60 hours a week just to live in a $1 million home and spend $3,000 a month on a mortgage and taxes,” Alan said. “You don’t need to make six figures if you’re not spending $80,000 a year on your life.”
The next step for Millheim, Zeigler said, is to “reunite” its local businesses, fill its two vacant storefronts and start a business incubator. That’s in lockstep with Alan, who said his business plan is to get another coffee shop next door.
After all, he’s looking to build a community one cup at a time.
“If more people in the area are doing more things that are bringing people in, it’s going to help us all,” Alan said. “... The community is the strong focus here. If someone’s house burns down, people will come and build a house in like two weeks. What more can you ask for? If you need a cup of sugar, you’re gonna get it. ... Everybody will do so much for you.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
