Aaron Galvin was on business in Africa when he saw an article on The River City News announcing that Fika Hus – the Swedish-inspired coffeehouse on Martin Luther King Boulevard – would be closing and that the shop’s owners would be looking for a new tenant.
He reached out right away.
Now, Galvin and his parents – Tom and Sharon – are the proprietors of Covington Coffee Company, which will soon open at 508 MLK Blvd. The Fika owners updated and renovated the space, so minimal work – mostly changing the color scheme – was necessary for the Galvins. After some final inspections, the new coffee shop should be open in the coming days.
And it will be open much more frequently than its predecessor.
“We’ll be open seven days a week,” said Aaron, a 32-year old transplant to the area who moved here for a job four years ago. He and his parents have lived in different places, including New Orleans, Miami, and most recently New Orleans, a city that Covington reminds him of. He got so comfortable here in his house near the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, that he inspired his parents, now retired, to join him. He still travels to work – which can be of benefit to this new venture since one of the locations is Rwanda (“I can buy Rwanda coffee for $5,” he said). But Covington is home – and that’s why he named the new family business after it.
“Covington reminds me of New Orleans. It has that comfortable, walkable, laid back environment,” he said. “I want to offer people that here at this coffee shop.”
“I own a couple of properties on this road,” he continued, “and people want to come here because it is less expensive than Over-the-Rhine and it’s laid back. You can just be who you are.” He’s also a fan of Wunderbar, the popular German-inspired restaurant and bar east of the new business. The coffeeshop, he said, will offer people the opportunity to go out in the evenings without consuming beer. “I can’t go to a bar every night because that’s not a healthy lifestyle, so this is another place to go.”
The shop will open in the morning and stay open into the evening hours. It will offer traditional cafe drinks and some light food options, as well as WiFi and an outdoor enclosed patio that abuts the historic Bavarian Brewery building whose wall could serve as a backdrop for projected movies, Galvin said.Â
Tom and Sharon will help operate the coffeeshop. Seven people, including a manager, have been hired to fill shifts. The family affair could eventually be even more so, too. Aaron is trying to encourage his older brothers to move to Kentucky with the rest of the Galvins.Â
“Covington, for me, is home. I’ve traveled a lot, but I like coming back here. For someone who always traveled, I’ve been longing for a neighborhood that I can walk around and say hi to people,” he said. “I think that’s what this is here. To feel like you don’t have a home for nearly two decades and then to have a home, it’s nice.”
-Michael Monks, editor & publisher