A drive-thru coffee shop is coming to Bellefonte. Here’s what you need to know
After closing its doors last week, the former home of Sammi’s restaurant has a new tenant.
First announced on its Facebook page Wednesday morning, Cool Beans Coffee and Tea will be expanding to a second location — 205 Park Place. The new location will have a drive-thru and offer an expanded menu for breakfast and lunch, with the possibility of offering dinner options.
“Stay tuned for exciting news and grand opening date,” the post said. “We have a lot of ‘cool’ things happening.”
Cool Beans, whose sale former owner Sherry Nelson announced in a September Facebook post, originally opened in 1996 at 141 W. High St. Business partners Troy Nihart and Lindsey Klobe, both natives of neighboring Clinton County, officially took over the coffee shop in in December.
Klobe and Nihart are part of a coffee roasting facility based out of Florida, and were looking to expand their business horizons to the retail portion of the coffee business, Nihart said. When Klobe saw Cool Beans was for sale, she told Nihart they should check it out.
“We decided that it was a perfect opportunity to work something out with Sherry and get our feet wet in the retail with ... operating a business before we started opening up new locations elsewhere,” Nihart told the CDT in December.
Klobe and Nihart’s acquisition marked the third time Cool Beans’ ownership has changed in the past decade, but this will be the first expansion of the business.
Before Nelson took over Cool Beans three-and-a-half years ago, Wendy Fultz owned and operated the coffee shop for eight years. Fultz decided to sell the business in 2016 and open women’s clothing store Helen Foxx and Co. at 122 S. Allegheny St.
Sammi’s closed its doors after less than one year in business, taking over the former Bonfatto’s location last April.
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 12:29 PM.
